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COPYRIGHT DELPOSm 





























COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY , 

THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS, In 
F irst Printing, 1924 



PRINTED BY 

THOS. B. BROOKS, Inc. 
New York 


PRINTED IN U. S. A. 










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HANDBOOK FOR 
GUARDIANS OF THE 
CAMP FIRE GIRLS 



THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS 

NATIONAL HEADQUA RTERS 

31 EAST i 7 th STREET, NEW YORK CITY 


Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-four 












A Camp Fire 


Girl appreciates her little sisters 


©C1A807037 


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CHAPTER I 


THE THEORY OF CAMP FIRE 

How a Need Was Felt and a Program Planned to 
Fill that Need 

You have probably discovered if you have come into close 
contact with girls, what a wealth of imagination and idealism 
they have and how much energy they are able to devote to any 
activity which arouses their interest. Here is motor power 
awaiting application. The question is, how to use it and to 
what end? Why not use it in accomplishing the very things 
which girls want, sometimes perhaps with a rather hazy re¬ 
alization, but nevertheless truly, for themselves. We who are 
their older friends are in hearty accord with those desires of 
theirs. We want them to have all the wholesome, healthy fun 
they can, to be admired and loved for admirable and lovable 
characteristics and we are as ambitious for them as they are 
for themselves. We want to help them but we know it can 
never be done through teaching and preaching alone. What we 
need is some means of directing their imagination and energy 
to the accomplishment of their ideals, some program of fun 
which shall nevertheless develop them spiritually, mentally, and 
physically. 


5 






6 


Handbook for Guardians 


The Dawn of the Idea 

Although the birthday of Camp Fire is officially the 17th of 
March, 1912, the idea had been taking shape for a long time 
before that. When Mr. W. C. Langdon of the Sage Foundation 
was directing an historical pageant in Thetford, Vermont, he 
found that while the boys who were working with him were 
organized as Boy Scouts, the girls had no organization of their 
own, and very much wanted one. He talked the matter over 
with Mrs. Charles H. Farnsworth, who was director of the 
Hanoun Camps for girls at Thetford and Preceptress of the 
Horace Mann High School girls of Teachers’ College, Columbia 
University. 

They became enthusiastic over the general idea and con¬ 
sulted with Mr. James West of the Boy Scouts and Dr. Luther 
Halsey Gulick, of Sage Foundation, who was always full of 
enthusiastic interest in the health and well-being of boys and 
girls. Mr. West had received many letters and requests from 
girls and those interested in the happiness of girls, asking that 
some program of organization be planned for their benefit such 
as the Boy Scouts enjoyed. 

Here was this keen desire arising among the girls themselves. 
Here too was a group of people whose work with girls and 
interest in them placed them in a position to be of valuable help 
in planning and launching such an organization. A meeting 
was called in March, 1911, to discuss the best way to meet the 
need. 

An organizing and executive committee was elected with 
full power to work out some adequate plan, with Dr. Mary 
Shenck Woolman as chairman. She was Professor of House¬ 
hold Arts Education at Teachers’ College, and organizer and 
Director of the Manhattan Trade School for Girls. She was in 
contact with all classes of girls—rich and poor, those who were 
self-supporting and those with abundant means and leisure, 
and believed that they all needed a happy, out of door life and 
some opportunity of knowing and cooperating with each other. 

Dr. Woolman and Mrs. Farnsworth, working often into the 
“wee sma hours” after their busy day, planned and wrote the 


7 


The Theory of Camp Fire 

first manual. They received invaluable and enthusiastic assist¬ 
ance from other members of the committee. Mr. Langdon sug¬ 
gested the title “Camp Fire Girls” and the ranks, Wood- 

Gatherer, Fire Maker and Torch Bearer. Dr. and Mrs. Luther 
Gulick had worked out for their own daughters and the girls 
who came under their supervision in their summer camp—a 
scheme of “honors” or awards for accomplishment which was 
modified and developed to form the Camp Fire Honor System. 
Dr. and Mrs. Gulick are responsible also for the ideals, 

ritual, and use of symbolism which so enrich the program. 

The name of their summer camp for girls, Wohelo (Work, 
Health, Love), became the watchword of the organization. 

A group of graduate students at Teachers’ College, under Dr. 
Woolman outlined the activities of the Home economics field 
and incorporated them in the Camp Fire scheme of honors and 
ranks. Among those specialists and enthusiasts who helped in 
molding the program were: Dr. Anna L. Brown, of the Young 
Women’s Christian Association with her interest in the health 
and spiritual happiness of girls; Miss Lina Beard, sister of 
Dan Beard, of the Boy Scouts, who emphasized the sturdy 
virtues of the pioneer; and Mr. and Mrs. Thompson-Seton, who 
stressed the value of primitive crafts and occupations, the love 
of out-door life, and friendship with animals. 

By the fall of 1911 there were Camp Fire Girls organized in 
many parts of the United. States. The executive and organiz¬ 
ing committee now feeling that the work was well started, at a 
meeting in late October elected Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick as 
President of the Camp Fire Girls. In the following March, 
1912, the movement was incorporated as a National Association. 

There step by step we have the foundation of Camp Fire, the 
first realization of the need for it, the planning of the program 
to meet the need, and the creating of an organization to carry 
on the program. Today, twelve years after the incorporation 
of Camp Fire, |here are Camp Fire groups in twenty-one dif¬ 
ferent countries. Six hundred thousand girls have lived the 
Camp Fire program, of work, health, love, service. 

This growth of Camp Fire cannot be estimated in mere num¬ 
bers. To measure it truly one would have to find a way of 


8 


Handbook for Guardians 


taking into consideration the sphere of Camp Fire’s spiritual 
influence which is ever widening. 

Those who orginated Camp Fire built truly on a sound 
foundation. The proof lies in the fact that the program has 
become increasingly usable during the years of its service. Its 
flexibility is probably one of its greatest assets, making it pos¬ 
sible for those who are carrying on the program to adapt it to 
changing social and economic conditions and to incorporate in 
it the best of the new theories as recommended and tried out by 
educational and recreational experts. In a word, Camp Fire is 
splendidly alive, its program constantly growing broader and 

more useful with an ever expanding field of application. 

<• 

The Program 

The program of the Camp Fire Girls was planned to take 
care of the out-of-school time of adolescent girls, and it is built 
around three important factors: It provides activities of 
natural interest to girls, it makes these activities doubly inter¬ 
esting through an appeal to the imagination, which is a vivid 
trait in the character of adolescent girls, it works quietly 
toward the end that through fun and happiness girls may 
achieve a beautiful and useful womanhood. 

Practically every wholesome activity which would naturally 
engage the interest of the young girl is included in the Camp 
Fire Program. These are classified under the seven crafts 
which form the basis for the system of Honors and Awards. 
Home Craft includes everything a girl might accomplish in 
connection with her home from doing the marketing to taking 
care of a baby or giving a party. Health Craft includes sports, 
first aid, and the forming of health habits. By emphasizing 
Hand Craft the program attempts to revive an interest in hand 
work and in the beauty of line, form, and color. 

Camp Craft and Nature lore give expression to the desire of 
Camp Fire Girls to be at home in the out-of-doors and to ap¬ 
preciate intelligently the beauties of nature. 

Business Craft includes punctuality and thrift for all girls, 
and improvement in her chosen field for the girl in business. 

Under the heading Patriot : sm and Citizenship are grouped 


9 


The Theory of Camp Fire 

those particular activities such as community service and par¬ 
ticipation in civic undertakings which will give the girl aware¬ 
ness of her position and responsibility in the community. 

Distributed among the Crafts are the seven hundred or more 
“Honors” which the girls may earn, certain specified tasks 
which they may accomplish as steps toward the winning of 
three progressive ranks. 

What a wide choice is offered. Hikes, camping, dramatics, 
sports, service to others, the daily tasks of the home, no longer 
drab but glorified with new dignity, making pottery, bead work, 
stenciling, dying. In the Camp Fire Program any girl can find 
the thing she is most interested in, and at the same time ex¬ 
perience the joy of working with others towards a common goal. 

The Inspiration 

“The daily tasks of the home, no longer drab but glorified with 
a new dignity.” Why should a girl wash dishes, or make her 
bed, or cook with a new zest just because she is a Camp Fire 
Girl? There lies the secret of the success of the Camp Fire 
Program. It appeals to the girls’ imaginations, helps them to 
find the romance and adventure in their everyday lives. 

In the first place, it is fun to belong to a club. Doesn’t every 
girl you know belong to a club or want to belong to one, or 
isn’t she &t least a member of a “crowd?” The group instinct 
is very strong in adolescent girls. What she does as a member 
of her club is far more important and thrilling than what she 
might do alone. 

Then, too, in accomplishing some homely task she is probably 
working towards a rank. She looks upon the attainment of 
this rank as a privilege, earnestly to be worked for, and she 
receives her reward in an impressive ceremony which appeals 
to her imagination and love of beauty. Woven into the fabric 
of Camp Fire are these colorful threads of ritual, symbolism, 
poetry, and beauty to which the girls respond with idealistic 
devotion. A girl who has once been a Camp Fire Girl does 
not quickly forget, but finds it enriching her whole life. 

She finds in Camp Fire the satisfaction of her desires. She 
wants to “be somebody.” She has an ideal which she wants to 


10 


Handbook for Guardians 


attain. Camp Fire, she knows, will help her find the way. The 
very fact that her Camp Fire name is chosen to symbolize her 
ideal of what she wants to be is an inspiration and an encourage¬ 
ment to her. She has a natural desire to be admired and she 
finds through contact with her fellow members and through the 
ideals of Camp Fire how she can make herself worthy of ad¬ 
miration. She has an altruistic and often very hazy desire 
to do good which Camp Fire gives her an opportunity of 
realizing very concretely, not only in the more dramatic service 
to the unfortunate, but daily, in her own home. If she wants 
to make things, there is no limit to her choice and she can be 
sure of helpful guidance and instruction. And first and last it 
is all fun for her—the fun of belonging to an organization with 
other girls, the fun of working and planning with them, of 
having a goal to attain, and the inspiration of others working 
towards the same goal with the encouragement and help which 
they give each other and which their leader gives them all. 
Camp Fire is fun. No girl belongs to it as a duty, but because 
she wants to and because it is in Camp Fire that she finds her 
happiness. 

The Framework of the Camp Fire Program— 

The System of Honors and the Three Ranks 

Ideals and theories are not of much value unless there is a 
possible practical way to live them. The principles of the Camp 
Fire Girls’ Program have been proven sound because their 
tools have stood the test. These tools are the system of Honors 
and the Three Ranks. Or you can look at the program in an¬ 
other way and consider the System of Camp Fire Honors and 
the progression through Three Ranks as the framework upon 
which the theory and principles of the program hang. 

By “Honors” in Camp Fire parlance is meant certain tasks 
(like airing and making one bed a day for two months), cer¬ 
tain duties (like keepng bureau drawers in order for three 
months), certain feats (like building an open fire in wind or 
rain with material found out-of-doors, or swimming one hun¬ 
dred yards), certain wholesome pleasures (like paddling or row- 



11 


The Theory of Camp Fire 

ing twenty miles in five days or camping for a week-end, sleep¬ 
ing out-of-doors) and doing these things well enough to receive 
as a record a little wooden bead. 

The honors are separated into seven groups, called “Crafts” 
and the honor beads for each craft are of a distinctive color. 

The crafts are as follows: 

Home (flame color for the flame of the hearth.) 

Health (red for red blood.) 

Camp (brown for the woods.) 

Hand (green for creation.) 

Nature (blue for the sky.) 

Business (yellow for gold.) 

Citizenship (red, white and blue.) 

These seven crafts represent the seven points in a girl’s edu¬ 
cation which the Camp Fire program stresses; they represent 
broadly the significant things in every girl’s life, the things 
which have always been and always will be the important and 
significant things in a girl’s and a woman’s life: the home, 
health, outdoor life, citizenship, the making of beautiful objects 
with the hands, and a knowledge of nature and of earning one’s 
daily bread. The value of such division and grouping is ob¬ 
vious. As the girl wins an honor, by the color of the bead she 
is awarded she is immediately impressed with the fact that that 
task, no matter how small or how great, is a part of a great 
scheme, a civilized and helpful life. 

A girl may win her honors hit or miss. Because they are not 
put into groups, there is no tendency to “cram” in order to win 
certain honors and then as soon as the honor bead has been 
received to forget it. Honors may be won over and over and the 
winning of them the second or tenth time is considered worthy 
o'f recognition. The wise Guardian, however, will keep watch 
of her girls and tactfully interest them in winning honors in the 
various crafts and varying the honors they are working for in 
each craft, so that the girls may make a progression. 

Besides the System of Honors, the Camp Fire Program has 
three ranks each with requirements which increase in difficulty 
and comprehensiveness, The winning of each rank requires a 


12 


Handbook for Guardians 


certain period of time, the fulfilling of the requirements covering 
the entire period. This again does away with any opportunity 
to “cram” in order to pass the requirements for rank. 

The symbolism of Camp Fire has been used in the names as 
well as in the spirit of the three ranks. Wood Gatherer, the 
first rank, has fewer and simpler requirements than the other 
ranks, yet as the name implies, the Wood Gatherer has her 
important place and function in the whole scheme of the Camp 
Fire Group. The Fire Maker, the second rank, has acquired 
greater technique, greater skill and experience. She can be 
trusted with more difficult tasks and responsibilities. The Torch 
Bearer, the third rank, has been a Camp Fire Girl for almost 
two and a half years and has shown her qualities of leadership 
as well as trustworthiness. 

System of Awarding Honors a 
Distinct Educational Policy 

Education, from the day of our birth until we reach young 
womanhood and manhood, is a long period of forming habits. 
Under fortunate stimulus and guidance, we become livable, 
reasoning human beings. All habits are formed by the doing 
of little things again and again. A program then, which 
encourages the doing of the little things young girls ought to 
do but do not ordinarily want to do, until the doing becomes 
automatic or a habit, must recognize and dignify these little 
things, and not wait until after the habit is formed, or its work 
is not permanent. 

Young girls very often do not want to do little things, like 
helping at home, keeping their dresser drawers straightened or 
sleeping with open windows or getting their exercise by walking 
to school, because these little everyday things are not showy. 
The Camp Fire Honor system is planned that there may be' a 
right proportion between tasks, that the important part of any 
task is the doing of it well, and that any task if it is the thing 
to be done, is worth while. The theory of the Camp Fire 
Honor system is that if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing 
with one’s whole heart. The Honor System works because it 
demands that girls do things in preference to knowing things. 



13 


The Theory of Camp Fire 

There are two distinct systems of education. One is the 
learning by actually doing, the other the learning by knowing 
how things are done. We are familiar with the school in which 
lessons are assigned, learned, and recited, and the pupil graded 
according to how close his recitation follows the text in content 
if not in word. We are not so familiar with the school in 
which the other or newer method is followed, that of supplying 
the stimulus and letting the children do the actual work, be it 
research work about a period in Greek history which happens 
to interest them, or the building of a bridge following Caesar’s 
famous description. The things we learn as children become 
ours; they remain with us as our own personal discoveries. It 
is more fun, more interesting to discover truths by discovering 
them for ourselves than to have to take some unknown person’s 
word for it. Camp Fire goes farther than this; it not only 
teaches the learning by doing, but also the necessity of doing 
the thing well by encouraging the doing of small tasks and the 
doing of them well, by awarding honors for each task as it is 
done. The Camp Fire program is habit-building, and whole¬ 
some habit-building is character-building. 

Value of Symbolism in Camp Fire Program 

Another distinctive thing in the program of the Camp Fire 
Girls is the use of symbolism and ceremony and ritual. 

Girls must have something for themselves and of themselves 
which they can hold sacred in their own way; and the girls are 
fortunate who can have as their common interest things which 
are ennobling and enduring. Any woman who is acquainted 
with the ideals of the Camp Fire Girls cannot help feeling that 
here is the thing which she was longing for when she was a 
growing girl; for Camp Fire does the things for its members 
which many mothers are too busy to do for their daughters. 

It helps them express their ideals and aspirations and to share 
them with their friends without being laughed at. It glorifies 
the things the girl has to do by furnishing her with an ideal 
which includes these things, and it offers delights and pleasures 
which she holds in common, first with the other chosen friends 
of the group and, second, with over one hundred and sixty 


14 Handbook for Guardians 

thousand other girls throughout the world. It is no small thing 
for a group of girls to feel that they are doing and loving the 
same things that over one hundred thousand girls are doing. 

Symbolism gives the color and design to Camp Fire. In the 
practical lives of most American homes, there is too little rec¬ 
ognition of symbolism. If we are fortunate enough to have 
beautiful objects about us, we think of them as merely beauti¬ 
ful things; seldom do they represent to us an ideal. Camp Fire 
symbolism is founded on the Indian symbolism, but it has been 
expanded and beautified. Each girl, as she joins Camp Fire, 
finds a name for herself which expresses some ambition or 
ideal. Then she designs or chooses a symbol. To outsiders it 
is merely a design; to her it is a living, speaking part of her¬ 
self. She weaves her deeds, her desires, her dreams in more 
symbols on her ceremonial gown. Often, of course, the Camp 
Fire Girl does not succeed in keeping her decorated gown 
artistic; sometimes the symbols are not carefully planned or 
chosen, but always the dress is the document of the most won¬ 
derful part of a girl’s life, the part of her life when she is both 
girl and woman. 

How the Program of the Camp Fire Girls 
Differs from Other Programs for Girls 

What has just been stated concerning the principles involved 
in awarding honors to the Camp Fire Girls must be kept in 
mind when one is considering the difference between the Camp 
Fire Girls and other organizations for girls. The Camp Fire 
program does not award for efficiency only; it makes no attempt 
to train for specialization in any activity, but to train rather for 
womanhood in the broad, old-fashioned sense of the word as 
well as in the new sense, in which citizenship and efficiency are 
considered. The three ranks, Wood Gatherer, Fire Maker, and 
Torch Bearer, mark the stages in the development of habits 
which are character-building instead of proficiency in certain 
tests. 

The Camp Fire program does not imitate any organization for 
boys. It recognizes, to be sure, that there are activities of com¬ 
mon interest, pleasure, and value to both boys and girls, but it 





IS 


The Theory of Camp Fire 

is based on the knowledge that there is a fundamental difference 
in the girl and boy nature, in the way a boy and girl respond 
to things about them and to their homes and duties. The men 
and women who devised the Camp Fire program realized, too, 
and realized wisely, that boys and girls do not want the same 
program. 

Boys do not want their clubs and organizations copied by 
their sisters, and girls want and are entitled to something 
entirely different from what their brothers have. This does 
not mean that the Camp Fire program does not encourage girls 
in sharing boys’ sports as well as having sports of their own, 
but they must have something more, something of their own. 
Imagination is a major part of a girl’s birthright, and a deter¬ 
mining factor in her life. The Camp Fire program takes care 
of this birthright, and by direction makes the girl’s imagination 
wholesome and constructive. 

The Camp Fire program aims to train girls for their respon¬ 
sibilities which will always remain distinct from those of boys, 
and to prepare them to meet those responsibilities easily and 
with understanding. It differs, therefore, from other organi¬ 
zations for girls in that it encourages the girls to create beauty 
about them, in their homes by making beautiful things, and in 
themselves by the things they do for others. The Camp Fire 
Girls are encouraged to do craft work, to make their own 
possessions as attractive as possible by the use of line and 
color; they are encouraged to dress simply but becomingly. 
It recognizes the need and desire of women to look as well as 
they can; it strives, therefore, to create habits in girls to dress 
neatly and attractively. When it becomes a habit to look well, 
it takes its place in our reflexes and is free from the dangers 
of developing vanity. 

The Camp Fire program is free from anything military. It 
uses no military terms or insignia ; it does not provide for for¬ 
mal exercise by the use of military drill, but by means of the 
organized hike and game, and the sharing of home responsi¬ 
bilities, it teaches cooperation and team work and, what is most 
important, disciplined individuality. The program is essen¬ 
tially feminine. It aims to keep girls girls, and to develop them 
through wholesome actvities into womanly women. 


CHAPTER II 


ON BEING A GUARDIAN 

The Guardian or leader of a group of Camp Fire Girls must 
' be a woman who has a sympathetic understanding of girls, 
who genuinely likes them and enjoys working and playing with 
them. There is a splendid opportunity for happiness in the 
relation of a Guardian with her girls if it is spontaneous and 
unforced. A Guardian who has a real affection for girls and 
an intelligent understanding of the things that interest them is 
bound to be a success. 

Being a Guardian has its personal advantages. It keeps one 
young and sympathetically in touch with youth. A mother has a 
better understanding of her daughter through sharing with her 
the interests and activities of a group of Camp Fire Girls. A 
teacher whose contact with her pupils may be formal and im¬ 
personal, finds as a Guardian the key to their mutual under¬ 
standing and happiness. Often a girl who has just returned 
from college where her days were full of varied interests feels 
the boredom of inactivity. Camp Fire gives her the something 
worth while to do which she needs and she brings to Camp Fire 
her enthusiasm and the benefit of her college training. When 
we have outgrown the vivid beauty of our own teen years, we 
realize that it is a privilege to share in the idealism of girl¬ 
hood. No one can grow stale and old in spirit who is hustling 
to maintain the leadership of an active, happy group of Camp 
Fire Girls. 

In carrying out the Camp Fire Program a Guardian must 
always remember that she is not a captain giving orders to 

16 







17 


On Being a Guardian 

troops, that her influence is inspirational rather than disciplin¬ 
ary. Camp Fire exists for the girls and not for the Guardians. 
It is to help the girls carry out their ideals, and the wise Guar¬ 
dian guides them but does not dictate to them. She plans the 
program with her girls, taking into consideration their individ¬ 
ual tastes and abilities. The tactful Guardian makes her in¬ 
fluence felt, not by commanding her girls, but by showing them 
how they can make the most of their membership in Camp Fire. 

A Guardian should take such a personal interest in each girl 
as to win her confidence. She will find that she understands 
her girls better and can work with them more satisfactorily if 
she knows something of their home background. She should 
know their fathers and mothers, their brothers and sisters, 
even their pets and the family hobbies. Such knowledge may 
sometimes prove the key to an otherwise puzzling situation, 
and will certainly help the Guardian to interpret her girls and 
to adapt the program to meet their needs. 

It is essential that the Guardian should have the respect of 
her girls. Proficiency in some one special thing will go a long 
way towards winning their respect and admiration. She should 
be a good sport and ready to enter into their fun. She should 
be just in her dealings with her girls and should never fail to 
keep a promise. A Guardian should never forget that she is 
being taken as a model by her girls. Her speech, carriage, 
clothes, and general deportment are under their keen observa¬ 
tion, and she cannot afford to let herself be a pattern for any¬ 
thing but the best. 

A Guardian opens doors for her girls. How much of your 
appreciation of the great and beautiful things of the world do 
you owe to some older friend who opened a door for you when 
you were a young girl? Perhaps it was books, the sort that 
you weren’t getting at school but that meant a whole new vision 
of life when you found them. Perhaps it was music or poetry 
or pictures or the out-of-doors that some one helped you find. 
A Guardian, because of her greater and richer experience with 
the world, can help her girls in just this way. She can show 
them how to make use of libraries, exhibits and museums. She 
can direct their attention to the better sort of magazines and 


18 


Handbook for Guardians 


moving picures, to plays and concerts. She can help them to 
develop along the lines of all the seven crafts and this again 
should be done tactfully, not in a dictatorial manner, but by 
suggestion. 

A Camp Fire Guardian has her problems to face, it is true. 
She gives generously not only of her time but of her spiritual 
and physical energy. She is sometimes discouraged and often 
very, very tired, and yet a Guardian considers her position a 
privilege and feels that her own life is enriched by her ex¬ 
perience in Camp Fire. Read the Real Diary of a New Guar¬ 
dian, published in this chapter. 

There are pitfalls which a Guardian should take care to 
avoid. Sometimes for fear of sacrificing her popularity a 
Guardian will be too easy going, particularly in the matter of 
keeping the standards of attainment high. After all, this is 
essentially a matter of how the thing is done. A Guardian 
who is tactful does not antagonize a girl by refusing to accept 
poor work submitted for an honor. Instead, by her friendly 
and sympathetic criticism, she makes the girl feel .that she 
wants to do the very best she can. A successful Guardian, 
while winning the girls’ admiration and respect, guards against 
sentimentality and idolization. She is not flattered by worshipful 
admiration, but knows how to turn it into healthy friendship. 

A Guardian holds a position of great power. She may be¬ 
come an immeasurable factor in the character development of 
the girls in her group. Although problems and trials are bound 
to arise, she finds her reward not only in the ultimate good 
which she may accomplish, but in the everyday happiness which 
she shares with her girls in their Camp Fire work. 

Recipe for Success With Your Group 

Below are some suggestions gleaned from the experience of 
many Guardians. We can’t promise you that they are failure¬ 
proof, but they are practical. 

1. Believe in your girls. Never let them feel that you doubt 
them. 

2. If they shirk responsibility and fail in being trustworthy, 
prove your faith by giving them new opportunity to succeed. 


On Being a Guardian 19 

3. Know the mothers and fathers of your girls. See that they 
believe the thing you are working toward. 

4. Use Camp Fire Headquarters. Write for advice and sug¬ 
gestions. Help build a stronger organization by sending in your 
discoveries and suggestions. Send pictures. Send all sorts of 
things you are doing. 

5. Use your townspeople. Give the doctors, the trained 
nurses, the art, dramatic and manual training teachers, every¬ 
one who has a hobby, the privilege of helping you build for 
better citizenship. Remember that the greater the number of 
people you meet, the greater the local interest in the thing you 
are doing. 

6. Have articles of the things you are doing printed in your 
local newspapers. 

7. Use your library. Use your local facilities. Give demon¬ 
strations and Camp Fire talks before your Chamber of Com¬ 
merce and various clubs. See that every man and woman in 
your community is intelligently interested in Camp Fire. 

8. Meet regularly. Start meetings promptly. See that there 
is something definite gained to take away from each meeting. 

9. Let the girls conduct their own meetings. The successful 
Guardian stays in the background. 

10. Every girl should own a Book of the Camp Fire Girls and 
should subscribe to EverygirVs. 

11. Try to give the girls the things they want for Camp Fire. 
A successful party is a most worthy enterprise. You can’t force 
your standards upon them, but you can help build theirs. 

12. Remember the out-of-door program. Hiking and health 
charts are important. 

13. Remember that Camp Fire is an adventure. It puts 
beauty and romance into everyday living. Don’t get discour¬ 
aged. Nothing will rub the keen edge off adventure as quickly 
as discouragement. 

14. Camp Fire groups are organized in two ways. Some¬ 
times the Guardian finds the girls but more often the girls want 
Camp Fire, and find the Guardian. Whichever is true of your 
group, it will be necessary for you to take the initiative at the 
beginning. 


20 


Handbook for Guardians 


15. Secure if possible the following list of materials. It may 
be necessary for you to advance the price of these things, but 
your girls should work to pay for them and keep them as the 
property of the group. 

They can be secured from the Camp Fire Outfitting Co., 197 
Greene Street, New York City. Several catalogues of supplies, 
a Guardian’s Hand Book and a Book of the Camp Fire Girls, 
rings, name book, symbol book, book of songs, loom for bead 
work, sample bead card, a dozen health charts, a dozen thrift 
charts. 

A REAL DIARY OF A NEW GUARDIAN 

June 1—Jean stopped me on the way home from Sunday 
School today and asked me if I would be the Guardian of a 
Camp Fire group. She said five of the girls wanted one be¬ 
cause they had known about the fun some of their older sisters 
had had in a group eight years ago. Well, I know nothing 
about Camp Fire, and I told her so, but she explained that 
they could not think of any one else who would try it, because 
“they all say they’re too busy.” Query number one, said I to 
myself,—why do parishioners think a minister’s oldest daughter 
isn’t particularly busy? Item two, Mother insists that I need 
rest after four years strenuosity in the form of teaching and 
social work: item three, I’m not interested in Camp Fire, 
know nothing about it, and am really too tired—that last item, 
which I gave to Jean, sounded flat. “We girls will do all the 
work,” she promised; “we’d start a group without a Guardian 
if we could.” Result—she is to get the girls together, and when 
I return from a college reunion next week, we’ll start in. 

July 7—Whew! Our verandah was not the coolest place in 
town this afternoon when Jean and her beaming colleagues— 
six of them—appeared with the Book of the Camp Fire Girls. 
We talked over what we wanted to stand for, and made up a 
name from part of each of our ideals—“Wacheelovan”—watch¬ 
ful, cheerful, loving, unified, and to my mind, that last is the 
keynote to start with. Now we are out to earn money for dues 
and charter. 

The enthusiasm of these youngsters is contagious; I’d for- 


21 


On Being a Guardian 

gotten how lovable a thirteen-year-old can be. Scotch Jean and 
Irish Marie, two years older, are the leaders, but canny little 
Isabel and fat Doris have distinct possibilities of leadership. 
Alberta is a fine team-worker, judging from her school record. 
I don’t know what fastidious Frances and self-conscious Gladys 
are capable of, but above all, I don’t know what I’m capable 
of. Apparently I have to be omniscient, or bluff. But I think 
it will work. 

September i—Our charter came last week and we are en¬ 
rolled in Nahequa. I’m committed beyond withdrawal, which 
makes Mother dubious, because the family cooking does use me 
up, and my headaches are still with me. But I must confess 
that the meetings every week inspire me. We begin on a Red 
Cross layette soon, after our present concentration on trees. 
How thankful I am to salvage a few remnants from the wealth 
of outdoor information Father has always lavished on our 
family! 

October 3—One comment before I turn in. If anyone had told 
me a month ago that I would be talking about some of my 
most cherished and hidden ideals to these sweet children of 
mine, I would have given them two more guesses. But we had 
our second Council Fire tonight, and out of our untutored 
imaginations and the technical help of the Book of the Camp 
Fire Girls, we evolved a fire-lighted ceremony that has raised 
me personally, if only for the moment, out of a kind of fog-bank 
of subconscious unrest that has made me wretched for months. 
Did it do that to the girls, I wonder? I didn’t realize what a 
salvation self-expression is. We voted on our Thanksgiving 
and Christmas program. 

November 14—Our next meeting will be held at Jean’s house. 
The girls are tired of coming here every time. Our ceremonials 
will be at a different home each time, so that the mothers can 
be present and learn to know our purposes. 

January 22—Christmas caroling in the Home Memorial 
Hospital and a bazaar last week have apparently spread our 
fame, for five girls want to join. We are a self-respecting 
group of the first class, not that we have been given the re¬ 
sponsibility of being important. Vanity! But it bucks us up. 


22 


Handbook for Guardians 


Three or four ladies and one or two men have said something 
nice too. Perhaps that’s what has automatically set us to look¬ 
ing for new worlds to conquer. Result, we are getting stiff 
necks and cold feet while we observe “O’Ryan” as Isabel 
spelled him tonight in a little paperwork of plotting the con¬ 
stellations we know. I’ve made a list, similar to the ones the 
girls are keeping, of the further honors I would like to do, and 
my word! It has taken two sheets of note paper on both sides. 
I’ve forgotten nearly all I ever knew about Michelangelo, 
the Irish lilt, and the market price of onions and cambric. It’s 
pulling me back on to the plane of curiosity I used to inhabit 
before certain things happened during the War. 

June 29—Somebody page a jar of cold cream! I’m sun¬ 
burned, lean and perfectly happy after ten days of gorgeous 
camping with thirteen peppy youngsters and two older friends, 
in our “lone group camp” lent us by the Y. M. C. A. I’ve 
found out that they don’t like to study Infant Mortality as a 
craft; I’ve doctored Gertrude after she tripped over a tent rope 
in the dark; I’ve passed June, Catherine and Jakey on canoe 
tests, and six others on easier swimming tests, and my shoulders 
are still a little bent from the responsibility of it; I’ve given 
timorous Tafty a well-deserved boating honor; and I’ve found 
out that I have a penchant for discipline that could almost 
amount to a wet-blanket, if I don’t ease up on the mechanics of 
“doing things.” But did we have fun! Ask the girls’ mothers. 
Incidentally, I think I have left behind for good and all that 
horrible “let down” feeling I came home with sixteen months 
ago. 

December 30—There’s not much use keeping a dairy any 
longer. I intended at the start to capture by that method any 
fleeting ideas and reactions I might find en route, but they came 
so thick and fast that I’ve had to eliminate instead of pursue. 
We’ve just had a Christmas party for fifty “children who 
wouldn’t have had any good time” (there were no “poor” in 
our proud little town, according to the district nurse, whom we 
were helping by this method). If you had seen young Paulo stare 
as he heard the reindeers (off-stage) go galloping and jingling 
away after Santa’s last “Good-bye everybody!” (done in 


23 


On Being a Guardian 

Catherine’s best style), and break into tears at the thought that 
he would never again see the white-bearded giver of gifts, 
you’d have gotten a bit of the same thrill of service the girls 
did. We are no longer seven, but seventeen; however, I did 
notice that Gladys was one of the main leaders in the games, 
that Frances mopped up the pools of spilled cocoa, and that Isabel 
was chairman of dishwashers—probably not through the Joy of 
Service, but because those things had to be done by somebody. 

What I am definitely aiming for now is the developing of the 
girls along two lines—unity of the group through common 
ideals to serve their mothers and community, and realization 
of our “International Sisterhood” (I think patriotism is too 
small an ideal for the coming generation, anyway). They must 
always work for something bigger than they have yet done— 
and that will keep me one pace ahead of myself too. Some 
older girls have asked for a Camp Fire group, and we are 
starting one. But “I hae me doots” as to whether I know 
enough about the psychology of that age, or have enough time 
to devote to a constructive program for them. And I can’t find 
another leader anywhere in town. Everyone whom I have ap¬ 
proached begins and ends by saying “Oh, I really don’t know 
enough.” Oh, for some way of initiating these dear blind 
people into the experience I have been going through. Some¬ 
one once told a tale about a grain of wheat that brought forth 
a hundred fold. All they need to do is to sow the seed in them¬ 
selves as well as in the girls, and stop worrying about droughts. 



Camp Fire Girls are happy, because they are healthy and busy. 
Their slogan is <( Wohelo,” which means Work, 

Health, and Love. 











CHAPTER III 

ORGANIZATION—NATIONAL, GROUP, 
LOCAL 

How does Camp Fire reach out from its National Headquar¬ 
ters at 31 East 17th Street, New York, to girls all over the 
United States and in twenty-one foreign countries? 


HOW TO ORGANIZE A GROUP OF CAMP 
FIRE GIRLS 

1. It takes at least six and no more than twenty girls to 

form a Camp Fire group. 

2. The only age requirement is that the girls be at least 

eleven years old. 

3. The group must have as leader or “Guardian” a wo¬ 

man at least eighteen years old. 

4. Each girl pays annual dues of $1.00 per year. 

5. Each Guardian pays annual dues of $.50 per year. 

6. Each group pays $1.00 for charter fee. 

7. When the dues and fee and the application blank (one 

sent by Camp Fire Girls, 31 East 17th Street, New 
York, upon request) properly filled out, are received 
at National Headquarters, Guardian receives ap¬ 
pointment and group is chartered. 

8. Girls are then Camp Fire Girls and may begin work¬ 

ing for honors and ranks. 


24 














Organization 25 

To maintain as Camp Fire does a close communication with 
each of its widely scattered groups requires a well knit and 
effective central organization. This central organization is sur¬ 
prisingly small when one considers the scope of its activities 
which include: keeping records and accounts; replying to com¬ 
munications from girls and Guardians; giving help and advice; 
outlining activities; publishing Everygirl’s Magazine with its 
stories, pictures, accounts of Camp Fire activities and articles 
of special interest to the girls themselves; publishing The Guar¬ 
dian, an inspiration to Camp Fire leaders; arranging training 
courses for Guardians and a yearly national conference; main¬ 
taining direct personal contact with Camp Fire groups through 
visits of the Field Secretary and other members of the staff; 
stimulating the growth of Camp Fire through exhibits, special 
pamphlets and publicity material; in a word, coordinating and 
directing the multitudinous and varied interests of Camp Fire. 
Important and necessary as are these duties of the national 
staff, they could not function without the energetic cooperation 
of local councils, executives, and Guardians and would have no 
reason for existence at all if it were not for the whole-hearted 
response of the girls for whom Camp Fire was originated. 

The plan of organization from the Board of Directors to the 
girls themselves is simply outlined by the chart on page 27. 

The Board of Directors is composed of distinguished persons 
who have a keen interest in the educational and cultural wel¬ 
fare of our young people. The Board functions as a whole and 
also acts in committees on special problems. 

The officers of the Board are the President, who presides over 
the monthly meetings; the Treasurer, who handles the finances 
of the organization; and the Secretary who carries on the cor¬ 
respondence of the Board. The standing committee of the 
Board of Directors is the Executive Committee composed of the 
officers and members elected by the Board. 

The National Executive: The Secretary of the Executive 
Committee of the Board of Directors is the National Executive 
and upon him falls the responsibility for the successful manage¬ 
ment of Camp Fire affairs for which he is accountable to the 


26 


Handbook for Guardians 


Board. He is in charge of the National Staff, made up of the 
following departments: 

The Field Department has charge of training courses, field 
trips, and takes the initiative in forming Guardians’ Associa¬ 
tions and local Camp Fire councils. It has charge of organizing 
and supervising camps. 

The Department of Publications edits and publishes Every- 
girVs Magazine, The Guardian, the Book of the Camp Fire 
Girls, the Guardian's Handbook, booklets for free circulation, 
and special material such as the Blue Bird page which appears 
monthly in the Junior Home Magazine. 

The Art Department has charge of national honors, arranges 
exhibits and keeps in touch with all phases of manual art in 
order to direct and stimulate handcraft. 

The Publicity Department has charge of newspaper and 
moving picture publicity, which means newspaper write-ups and 
photographs and arrangements for Camp Fire news films. 

The Clerical Department handles innumerable business de¬ 
tails connected with the organization. A study of the chart will 
show how varied are the activities of this department and how 
essential to the functioning of Camp Fire. 

The Camp Fire Outfitting Company 

The founders of the movement realized that owing to the 
natural growth, the time would immediately be upon them when 
the simple supplies such as wooden beads, khaki cloth for 
gowns, certain types of athletic wear, the insignia of the organi¬ 
zation in sterling silver, and other supplies necessary to the 
growth of any such organization must be furnished. They had 
no desire to “enter business,” yet it was absolutely necessary 
that the furnishing of such supplies should not be left to pro- 
micuous commercial endeavor. To meet this need the Camp 
Fire Outfitting Company was organized and the expenses of 
organization underwritten. It is separately incorporated and 
is the supply department of Camp Fire Girls. It stands on its 
own feet absolutely. It is granted the exclusive right to handle 


27 


Organization 


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28 


Handbook for Guardians 


all Camp Fire material covered by copyright. All prices charged 
for this material are passed upon by the Supplies Committee of 
the Board of Directors of the Camp Fire Girls and increases 
and reductions are submitted to this Committee. The Camp 
Fire Outfitting Company pays to the Camp Fire Girls five per 
cent, on its gross sales and in this way contributes to the sup¬ 
port of the national organization. Such articles as indicate 
either membership or rank will be sold only to Camp Fire Girls 
and Guardians, for example, the Guardian’s pin, the Torch 
Bearer’s pin, the Fire Maker’s bracelet, the ceremonial gown, 
honor beads, etc. Other articles which are not for official use 
may be sold to anyone. No officer, director, or anyone else con¬ 
nected in any way with the Camp Fire organization has any 
financial interest or derives any financial return from the Camp 
Fire Outfitting Company. 


GROUP ORGANIZATION 

Why Groups Are Limited to Twenty Girls 

The actual organization as well as the ideals of Camp Fire 
are based on the home, and because the home, a small intimate 
unit, has been considered by the founders as the basis of Ameri¬ 
can life, the Camp Fire Girls have been organized into groups 
of from six to twenty girls in order that there may be an inti¬ 
mate and friendly relation between the girls themselves and 
between the girls and their leader. 

This plan has made Camp Fire more a philosophy of living 
than an organization, for the girls and their leader share their 
ideals as friends, not as members of an impersonal organiza¬ 
tion. The limiting of the size of the group to twenty is, there¬ 
fore, in accordance with the accepted principles of American 
life, the small intimate working unit, the home, and as there is 
no limit to the number of groups in any community, and since 
every girl who wishes may form a group by getting five of her 
friends and an older person to act as leader, the organization 
is truly democratic in its functioning as well as in its ideals. 


29 


Organization 

The Camp Fire Group 

Each separate unit is called a Camp Fire group. Each group 
must have as leader a Guardian (a woman eighteen years old or 
older) and not less than six and not more than twenty members. 
The minimum age limit for the girls is eleven years. There is 
no maximum age limit. There are Camp Fire Girls of all ages 
above eleven years. 

It has been found that when starting a group of Camp Fire 
girls in any school, church, or institution, it is wise to include 
the girls of the highest ideals, those that are looked upon with 
favor by the rest of the girls. This plan will establish the work 
on a firm basis, and make it immediately a power for strength 
in the school. 

Often, Sunday School classes are organized as Camp Fire 
groups, or the entire class in school is divided into groups. In 
many cases girls who live near to each other organize a group, 
or the leader of playgrounds or settlements organize their «clubs 
into Camp Fire groups. Better results are obtained if the girls 
in one group are approximately the same age. 

Leaders or Guardians 

The leader of the Camp Fire, who must be at least eighteen 
years of age, is called the Guardian. She receives her ap¬ 
pointment and authorization as Guardian upon vote of the 
National Board of Directors. The person applying for Guar¬ 
dianship fills out an application blank (sent upon request tc 
Camp Fire Girls, 31 East 17th Street, New York) which she 
returns properly filled out, together with complete dues of the 
group, Guardian’s dues and charter fee. One week should be 
allowed for appointment to be made. 

A charter is then granted and sent to the new group, and a 
certificate to the new Guardian, stating that her appointment 
has been made by the National Board of Directors. As soon as 
the new Guardian receives a letter notifying her of her ap¬ 
pointment, the group may begin working for honors. 

If the charter and certificate do not arrive within three weeks 
after dues and application have been sent, please notify Na¬ 
tional Headquarters. 


30 


Handbook for Guardians 


Teachers, social service and recreation leaders, older sisters 
and interested older friends whose work or daily life brings 
them into contact with girls, make excellent Guardians. 

Mothers are urged to become Guardians. Even a very busy 
mother can do this by appointing Assistants among the older 
girls or her personal friends in the community, while she herself 
is the inspiration and adviser. 

Assistant Guardian 

An Assistant Guardian is recorded at headquarters and, like 
the Guardian, may receive honors for past achievements. She 
is considered an officer of the Camp Fire. She pays dues of 
fifty cents a year with the Camp Fire, which entitles her to 
membership in the organization and to wear the membership 
ring. She may work for honors and rank in the regular way. 
She does not wear the Guardian’s pin. Her duties are to assist 
the Guardian in whatever way may seem desirable. Specialists 
who from time to time give demonstrations in their particular 
line are not considered Assistant Guardians. The power to 
award honors, order insignia, and handle the correspondence 
of the Camp Fire is delegated only to the authorized Guardian. 
The national office should be notified promptly of the appoint¬ 
ment or resignation of an Assistant. 

Temporary Guardians 

When a Guardian finds it necessary to be away from her 
Camp Fire and knows some one who is willing to take her 
place, it is advisable for her to resign and have the substitute 
make formal application for Guardianship. (Fee $.50—receives 
a Certificate and is an authorized Guardian.) This will enable 
the girls to continue to hold ceremonial meetings and receive 
beads for honors won. Upon her return, the original Guardian 
may resume the work and notify National Headquarters to re¬ 
instate her. (Fee $.50.) The substitute Guardian is automat¬ 
ically dropped. 

It is permissible for the substitute, without thus becoming an 
authorized Guardian, to supervise the work of the girls in the 
Guardian’s absence, but in that case she has no authority to hold 


31 


Organization 

Ceremonial Meetings, award honors, or order supplies. She 
merely holds the girls together. No Guardian has authority to 
order supplies for any but her own Camp Fire group. 

Sponsors 

All applications must be signed by some person who will act 
as sponsor to the Guardian and group. This applies to a new 
Guardian forming a new Camp Fire and to a new Guardian 
taking an old group. 

The sponsor should be someone who is respected in the com¬ 
munity, and one who is interested in the work and progress of 
the group and the organization. 

Although only one sponsor is required for signing the appli¬ 
cation blank, it is suggested that each Guardian get two or 
three persons to act as sponsors of her group. In towns where 
there is more than one group, it is well to have the sponsors 
and influential people in the town act as a Board of Sponsors. 
It is the responsibility of this Board to learn about Camp Fire 
and keep track of what the girls are doing, and to back Camp 
Fire in the community. Such a Board later acts in conjunction 
with the Guardian’s Association in the forming of a council, 
prior to securing a local executive. See page 44. 

Yearly Dues of Camp Fire Girls 

Dues are payable annually and are reckoned from the date 
of official authorization of the group and not from the date the 
individual member joins. 

The membership dues are $1.00 a year per girl. There must 
be at least six girls to form a Camp Fire, therefore the minimum 
dues will be $6.00 for the group. Guardians and Assistant 
Guardians pay dues of 50c. a year. These are reckoned apart 
from those of the Camp Fire, and are not included in the 
registration fee. Assistant Guardians must be recorded at Na¬ 
tional Headquarters. 

No Camp Fire may be chartered until the annual dues of the 
entire group have been paid. Dues must accompany applica¬ 
tion. Camp Fires whose dues are in arrears cannot be retained 
on the active list. 


32 Handbook for Guardians 

Dues are payable for all girls working for honors at the 
time of payment. 

New Members 

When a new member joins a Camp Fire after the current 
year’s dues have been paid, she will have to pay $1.00 for the 
remainder of the current year (unless she joins the group 
within six months of the date when the group dues are payable, 
in that case she pays fifty cents) if she wishes to be considered 
an active member of the Camp Fire and wear a membership 
ring. When Guardians report the names of new members, 
they should mention the date on which the new member started 
to work for'honors, as their dues are also counted from this 
date. 

If girls drop out after dues have been paid, new members 
may take advantage of the unexpired dues. Additional dues are 
necessary only when the membership exceeds the number for 
which dues have been paid. 

Absent Members 

Camp Fire Girls who leave town may continue their mem¬ 
bership in the group by paying their dues with the group and 
by submitting their requirements for honors and ranks to the 
Guardian. Absent members are not included in the twenty 
members which may be in one group. 

Transferred Members 

A girl who is transferred from one Camp Fire to another 
will receive full credit from both the new Guardian and Na¬ 
tional Headquarters for all the attainments which are properly 
recorded. A transfer blank is filled out by the former Guardian 
and is a record for the new Guardian. It should not be sent to 
National Headquarters. When a girl is transferred from one 
Camp Fire to another, the new Guardian should send girl’s 
name and name of former Guardian to Headquarters so that 
records may be adjusted. 

Because of the difficulty in giving a definite rule in regard to 
dues of transferred members, each case must be taken up indi¬ 
vidually by Headquarters. 





Organization 


33 


Fees 

Certain fees are required to cover the issuing of Certificates, 
Charters, Transfers, etc. 

(a) New Guardian taking new Camp Fire group pays a 

fee of $1.00 and receives Certificate, Charter, The 
Guardian and Every girl’s Magazine. 

(b) New Guardian taking old Camp Fire group pays a 

fee of $.50 and receives a Certificate, The Guardian 
and Every girl’s Magazine. (Must take at least six 
members of an old Camp Fire group in good stand¬ 
ing.) See “Dues.” 

(c) New Guardian taking part of old Camp Fire group 
pays a fee of $1.00 and receive Certificate, Charter, 
The Guardian and Everygirl’s Magazine. (Must 
take at least six members of an old Camp Fire group 
in good standing.) See “Dues.” 

(d) Old Guardian taking new Camp Fire group pays a 
fee of $1.00 and receives a Charter and Everygirl’s 
Magazine. Application blank must be filled out 
completely. When sending application, kindly state 
what has become of former Camp Fire group. 

(e) Old Guardian taking old Camp Fire group pays a fee 
of $.50 (Transfer Fee). Application must be filled 
out completely. She must take at least six members 
of an old Camp Fire group in good standing. This 
transfer fee of $.50 is charged to cover the work in¬ 
volved in transferring records, cross-referencing cor¬ 
respondence, etc. 

(f) Old Guardian taking part of an old Camp Fire group 
pays a fee of $1.00 and receives a Charter, The 
Guardian and Everygirl’s Magazine. She must take 
at least six members of a Camp Fire group in good 
standing. All Camp Fires in good standing receive 
Everygirl’s Magazine. 

(g) Reorganization—a new Guardian reorganizing an old 
Camp Fire group pays a reorganization fee of $1.00 
which entitles the Guardian to her Certificate, The 
Guardian and the Camp Fire group to Everygirl’s 







34 


Handbook for Guardians 


Magazine. An old Guardian reorganizing an old 
Camp Fire group pays a reorganization fee of $.50 
which entitles the Camp Fire to Everygirl’s Maga¬ 
zine. When a Camp Fire group is reorganized, the 
dues are payable from the date of official reorgani¬ 
zation. 

One Guardian Taking Two Groups 

When the membership of a Camp Fire exceeds twenty, it is 
necessary for the Guardian to divide and form two groups, as 
a Camp Fire is limited to twenty girls. 

A Guardian may take a second Camp Fire group, provided 
the dues of her first group are paid and she is in good stand¬ 
ing, and she complies with the following suggestions: 

1. She must fill out a regular application blank, giving name 
of Camp Fire group, whether new, old, or part of old group. 

2. If the second group is an old group or part of an old 
group, name of former Guardian, list of members in the old 
group and their ages, should accompany the application blank. 

3. The application blank for the second group should be signed 
by a sponsor. 

4. The Guardian must attend to correspondence, orders for 
supplies for both groups, mentioning the name of the group for 
which she is transacting business, as all records for both groups 
are kept in her name. 

5. The dues of the second group are reckoned from the date 
of official organization of that group. 

6. She must send to National Headquarters at once the name 
and qualifications of her assistant. 

7. She shall pay dues and fees for the second group as fol¬ 
lows: 

(a) If a second Camp Fire group is an old Camp Fire 

group in Good Standing, the fee is fifty cents. 
(Transfer Fee.) 

(b) If the second Camp Fire group is composed entirely 

of new members, the fee is one dollar. This entitles 
the Camp Fire group to a Charter, The Guardian 
and Every girl’s Magazine. Dues $1.00 per girl. 


35 


Organization 

(c) If the second Camp Fire group is composed of part of 

an old Camp Fire group (six or more members of a 
Camp Fire group in good standing) the fee is one 
dollar. This entitles the Camp Fire group to a 
Charter, The Guardian and Everygirl's Magazine. 

(d) The original date of organization is retained, Charter 

and Dues dating accordingly. 

Communications from Guardians 

Because all our correspondence is with the Guardians, and 
because there are so many Guardians, it is necessary that all 
communications from Headquarters be answered promptly and 
definitely. In order to facilitate correspondence at National 
Headquarters, Guardians are requested to observe the follow¬ 
ing directions in their correspondence. This will avoid delays. 

1. Always write name and address clearly on each letter. If 
you are sending several letters at the same time, or using several 
sheets of paper, have your name and address appear on each, 
since the correspondence is all filed under the Guardian’s name. 

2. When sending dues to National Headquarters, send them 
either in the form of a check or money order made payable to 
Camp Fire Girls, Inc., at New York. Do not send cash. Be 
sure also that there is sufficient money in the bank to cover the 
check; otherwise a protest fee is charged, which increases your 
Camp Fire expenses, and causes delay. 

3. It is suggested that all Guardians use business size paper 
when writing. It makes for uniformity in filing. 

4. Change of Address —When an address other than that on 
record is given, state whether temporary or permanent. 

5. Allow sufficient time for reply to your letter as each letter 
which comes to the office must pass through the book keeping, 
record, and application departments so that sufficient informa¬ 
tion may be given to the correspondence department before the 
reply is written. 

National Honor Department takes care of material submitted 
for national honors. 

Record Department attends to all matters involving dues, 
standing of Guardians, transfers, change in membership, 
changes of address, annual reports. 




36 


Handbook for Guardians 


Correspondence Department receives all communications re¬ 
garding applications, honor, ceremonials, earning money, re¬ 
quests for literature, and all general information. 

Department of Publications receives all communications re¬ 
garding Everygirls* such as new subscriptions, renewal of old 
subscriptions, articles for possible publication, complaints; also 
all correspondence regarding The Guardian and other Camp 
Fire publications. 

a 

Reports 

Once a year a report blank is sent to each Guardian in good 
standing. As reappointment is based on the information given 
in this report, it is necessary that it be returned to National 
Headquarters as soon as possible. 

The term “good standing” means that a Camp Fire has paid 
dues for the current year. 

Your Guardian’s Certificate is good for all time and is re¬ 
newed by National Headquarters upon receipt of your report 
each year. A reappointment seal is sent each year. 

The following is the type of questions which appear in the 
Annual Report. We are quoting them here so that Guardians 
will know what will be asked them, so that they will keep a 
record of them during the year. 

Are you a member of a Guardians’ Association? 

Have your dues for the current year been sent to Headquar¬ 
ters? 

Do yoii own a copy of the last edition of the Guardian’s 
Hand Book and the Book of The Camp Fire Girls? 

Do you read EverygirVs Magazine? 

How many of your girls read Everygirl’s Magazine? 

How many subscribe? 

Do you keep a file of EverygirVs and The Guardian? 

How many of your girls have kept monthly health charts? 

How many national health symbols have been awarded? 

How do you emphasize the importance of health with your 
girls? 

How many have walked one hundred miles a month? 

How have you furthered outdoor recreation for others beside 
your own group? 



37 


Organization 

Have you camped a week or more with your girls? 

Have you sent in your Camp Report? 

Have you a permanent camp site? 

Do you know the mothers of your girls? 

Have you any girls of foreign parentage in your group? 

Do you have foreign-born mothers contribute to the local pro¬ 
gram such as by teaching folk dances, hand craft, etc.? 

Have your girls undertaken any community project like build¬ 
ing a Community Fire Place, Tourist Park, or taken respon¬ 
sibility for Community Christmas, Girls’ Day Festival, etc.? 

Ih what national or local campaign for raising funds has 
your group assisted? 

How much money did they raise? 

Do you know the individual needs of your girls? 

In what community enterprises have your girls cooperated 
with other organizations, like pageants, entertainments, etc.? 

What church service have your girls given? 

What service have your girls given independently of other 
organizations—like caring for children, birthday parties and 
visits to old ladies’ homes, adopting children, Christmas parties 
for poor children, darning stockings for busy mothers, etc.? 

Has your group a Camp Fire room, bungalow, cabin? 

Do you send interesting articles of what your girls are doing 
to the local newspapers? 

Have you asked your local editors for a weekly column? 

For how long in advance do you plan your Camp Fire pro¬ 
gram? 

Do you let your girls do any of the planning? 

Do you emphasize the importance of working for ranks? 

Has your group a plan budget? 

Has your group given a party for mothers and fathers? 

What is the approximate record of honors awarded during 
the year in various craft? 

Number of members working for honors? 

How many Blue Birds have you? 

Is your Blue Bird Group registered at National Headquarters, 
Camp Fire Girls, 31 East 17th Street, New York? 

What book or books have you read in the past year other • 



38 


Handbook for Guardians 


than the Handbook and those recommended in The Guardian 
that have helped you in directing the work with your Camp Fire 
group ? 

Resignation of Guardians 

When a Guardian resigns the Camp Fire group is transferred 
to our inactive file and cannot be reinstated until the applica¬ 
tion of the new Guardian has been received at National Head¬ 
quarters. Headquarters would greatly appreciate anything the 
former Guardian can do to get the application of her successor 
to us promptly, so that the group may again receive Everygirl’s 
Magazine and The Guardian. 

Reinstatement of Guardians 

In order to be reinstated, a Guardian should notify National 
Headquarters when she resumes Camp Fire work. (See “Fees,” 
Page 33.) 

SUPPLIES 

Nothing but Orders for Supplies Should be 
Addressed to the Camp Fire Outfitting Co. 

Rings, supplies, etc., can be sent only to Guardians in Good 
Standing. Orders for all supplies must bear signature of the 
authorized Guardian and should be addressed directly to the 
Camp Fire Outfitting Company, 197 Greene Street, New York 
City. 

Rings 

The Camp Fire ring is the insignia of membership in the 
organization. 

Any Camp Fire Girl may purchase her ring for fifty cents at 
any time after the payment of her current year’s dues. This 
order must be signed by the Guardian. 

Each girl will receive with the ring “a coupon entitling the 
holder for a period of two years after issuance to a reduction 
of fifty cents in the price of the cut materials for the ceremonial 
gown with the three-inch fringe; of the cut material for the 
gown with the six-inch fringe ; of the gown made up with the 


39 


Organization 

three-inch fringe; or the gown made up with the six-inch 
fringe. Such coupon is in the way of a gratuity covering a 
limited period and cannot be accepted in payment for either 
ceremonial cut material or fringe sold separately or for any 
other kind of merchandise than above stated.” 

The above quotation is from an agreement which we have 
been able to make with the Camp Fire Outfitting Company, who 
handle the official supplies of the organization. 

Ceremonial Gown 

Each Camp Fire Guardian will be required, upon joining the 
organization, to promise to procure her gown within two months 
of the official organization of the Camp Fire. Each Camp Fire 
should have before it, from the very beginning, at least one 
ceremonial costume of the organization. 

Exchange of Rings 

If for any reason rings are returned for exchange, it is neces¬ 
sary for the Guardian to send them direct to Camp Fire Out¬ 
fitting Co. with a siip of paper bearing her name and address 
and the ring sizes desired. 

Lost Rings 

If a girl loses her ring it will be replaced upon receipt of 
fifty cents together with the girl’s name, size of ring desired, and 
signature of Guardian. This information should be sent direct 
to Camp Fire Outfitting Company, 197 Greene Street, New York. 

Meetings 

The typical Camp Fire Program calls for weekly meetings. 
These meetings vary to fit the program of activities which have 
been decided upon for the month, and often take the form of a 
hike or outdoor meeting. Council Fires or Ceremonial Meetings 
are held not oftener than once every two months, except at 
summer camps, where they are held weekly. At these Council 
Fires the honors are awarded and new ranks conferred. For 
suggestions about meetings and programs see Chapter IV. 


40 


Handbook for Guardians 


LOCAL ORGANIZATION 
Guardians’ Associations 

When a number of Camp Fires have been started in any 
locality the Guardians will find it advantageous to meet together 
for mutual help. 

Upon receipt of the signatures of three Guardians, two repre¬ 
senting different organizations (school, church, etc.) and one 
independent, that is, not connected with any organization, a list 
of the Guardians of that locality will be sent from the national 
office. This Committee should make preparations for and call 
the first meeting. In order that the Association may be officially 
connected with the National Office, it is necessary: 

1. To send in the names of the Chairman, Secretary, and 
Treasurer and territory covered by the Association, e.g., sub¬ 
urbs or towns included. 

2. That all officers be Guardians in good standing. 

3. That officers represent at least two different organizations, 
e.g., church, school, or to be independent. 

4. Voting members of Associations must only be Guardians 
in good standing. 

Because all lists are used to great extent by mail order houses 
for commercial purposes, it is our policy to protect the members 
of Camp Fire from receiving promiscuous advertising matter 
by refusing to give out our mailing lists. 

Purpose 

The purpose of the Guardians’ Association is: (1) for the 
Guardians to become personally acquainted with each other; 
(2) to help new Guardians and prospective Guardians; (3) to 
exchange ideas; (4) to secure action in matters of general in¬ 
terest, e.g., Grand Councils, Summer Camps, etc.; (5) to re¬ 
ceive outside efficient help; (6) to keep well informed as to 
what Camp Fire does locally and nationally; (7) to increase 
the strength of Camp Fire and to be recognized by the com¬ 
munity; (8) to keep the Guardians in close touch with Head¬ 
quarters and their own locality; (9) to keep in touch with 


Organization 41 

community chest situation in their town to the end that Camp 
Fire Girls may be included in the budget. 

Headquarters notifies the Chairman of the Guardian’s Asso¬ 
ciation once a month of all appointments, resignations, rein¬ 
statements in her territory. 

Organization 

The membership is comprised ‘of all the Guardians within 
commuting distance of a certain point. The greatest latitude 
in form of local management is encouraged. A Chairman is 
necessary, who is responsible to Headquarters. The following 
officers and committees are suggested: Executive Committee, 
Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Treasurer, Recording Secretary, 
Corresponding Secretary, Press, Social, New Ideas, Work, 
Finance, Camp, and Music Committees. 

Meetings should be held regularly once a month at a fixed 
place and time. Many Associations are organized as much 
like a Camp Fire group as possible, having their own names 
and symbols, etc. The reason in such a plan is the experience 
the Guardians gain. 

a. Plan year’s program in advance. 

b. Secure experts from outside to give talks and demon¬ 

strations which will give Guardians ideas for the 

meetings of their groups. 

c. Plan for regular publicity in local newspapers. 

i. Each group have its reporter to send weekly news 
to Association publicity secretary. 

d. Plan excursions and entertainments for Guardians. 

1. Council Fire for Guardians. 

2. Picnic or hike with cooking and fire demonstrations. 

3. Get Scout masters to help. 

e. Have each Guardian in the Association doing part of 

the work. Everything must not be done by the Chair¬ 
man. A good leader directs but lets the others do the 

planning. 

f. Plan certain activities which the girls of all groups can 

do together. 

1. Help Red Cross. 


42 


Handbook for Guardians 


2 . Christmas activities—singing of carols—community 

Christmas tree—red stockings for poor and chil¬ 
dren’s hospitals, etc. 

3. Camp Fire birthday party in March. 

4. Mother-Daughter banquet. 

5. General hike. 

6. Field day and outdoor cooking contest. 

7. Song contest. 

8. Stunt party. 

9. Valentine party. 

10. Grand Council Fire, 
g. Have a Guardian’s Training Course. 

Publicity 

It is one of the important functions of a Guardians’ Associa¬ 
tion to get publicity for Camp Fire in the community so that 
people will understand and appreciate the ideals and aims of 
the organization. The following suggestions will be helpful in 
securing publicity: 

A. Why publicity is needed. 

1. Every movement which involves the education of youth 
needs publicity. The world should know what its members are 
thinking and accomplishing. 

2. The public especially needs enlightenment on the work 
and activities of its young girls. 

3. Publicity furnishes a means of expansion and extension of 
the movement—new girls and Guardians join, people become 
interested. 

4. A good thing is worth passing on. 

5. Girls and Guardians are encouraged by publicity. 

B. Ways of getting publicity. 

1. Wait until you have a good story, then call personally on 
city editor and tell him about the story. Leave a copy—type¬ 
written and brief—with him. 

2. Invite the papers to send reporters to all your public en¬ 
tertainments. Send complimentary tickets to the papers. 

3. Elect a reporter from among the girls to send local news 
to papers each week. 



Organization 43 

4. A notice of every meeting of any sort, of plays, or plans 
to make money, of honors awarded, should be telephoned or 
mailed to the local papers. You will find that they will soon 
be coming to you and telephoning to you for news. 

5. Use names when you send your news into the papers. 
The papers like to publish them. It helps their circulation. 

6. Make items short. Print paper is scarce. The editors will 
appreciate not having to cut down the items sent in to them. 

7. Occasionally send copies of EverygirVs Magazine, with 
articles which would be interesting to public, marked. Accom¬ 
pany it with a personal note saying the editor is at liberty to 
reprint if credit is given. 

8. Always have good pictures taken of your girls when they 
are actually doing something. 

a. Have pictures taken by an expert. 

b. Have the pictures tell a story (not of a group looking 

into a camera, but of the girls actually singing carols 
before a window, etc.). 

9. Send pictures to the papers. 

10. Try to get a regular space every week in the paper. The 
Saturday or Sunday issues are preferable. 

(See article, page 85, Everygirl’s Magazine, November, 1923.) 

PROPOSED CONSTITUTION OF THE 
GUARDIANS’ ASSOCIATION 
OF . 

ARTICLE I. (Name) 

Section 1. The name of this organization shall be “The 
Guardians’ Association of ..” 

ARTICLE II. (Purpose) 

Section 1. The purpose of this Association shall be to co¬ 
ordinate and stimulate the Camp Fire Girls of . 

Section 2. This Association shall endeavor, through discus¬ 
sion and exchange of ideas, to unify the Guardians in spirit 
and work and shall endeavor to maintain a high standard of 
work and uniformity among the different groups. 





44 


Handbook for Guardians 


Section 3. This Association shall aim so to arouse the en¬ 
thusiasm of Camp Fire Girls that they will both educate the 
public and interest all girls in the Camp Fire organization. 

Section 4. This Association shall be the means of enabling 
Camp Fire Guardians and girls to keep in close touch with 
opportunities to serve their country and their community. 

ARTICLE III. (Membership) 

Section 1. There shall be the following classes of membership: 

1. Active Members shall be Guardians officially recognized 

and in good standing at National Headquarters. 

2. Associate Members shall be any person over eighteen 

years interested in Camp Fire for girls and recom¬ 
mended by an Active Member. 

Section 2. The dues of all members shall be $1.00 a year. 

ARTICLE IV. (Officers) 

Section 1. The officers of this Association shall be: Chair¬ 
man, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer. 

Section 2. The Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and 
Treasurer and three members shall constitute an Executive 
Committee. 

ARTICLE V. (Meetings) 

Section 1. There shall be an annual meeting the first week 
in October in each year. 

Section 2. Monthly meetings shall be held from October to 
June, inclusive. 

ARTICLE VI 

Section 1. This Constitution may be amended by two-thirds 
vote of the members of this Association. 

LOCAL COUNCILS 

If there are several groups in a community, it is wise to 
organize a Council made up of men and women representing 
the best interests of the community, such as the schools, relig- 



45 


Organization 


\ 


ious denominations, influential business men’s groups, women’s 
clubs, and other social, philanthropic and civic organizations. 
This Council or group of picked men and women is the link 
between the community and all its resources and the Camp Fire 
Girls and their needs. 

The Guardians’ Association recommends to National Head¬ 
quarters people fitted for membership on a local Council. Na¬ 
tional Headquarters makes the appointments. It is a local 
Council that secures an executive. Such appointments are 
made in consultation with the National Executive and must be 
ratified by National Headquarters and the Council is chartered. 

The local Council is appointed to facilitate the work of the 
Guardians’ Association in the community by relieving it of 
many of the community responsibilities which the Guardians’ 
Association is too busy to perform. The Guardians’ Associa¬ 
tion concerns itself directly with the girls and with the tech¬ 
nique of Camp Fire. 

Separate groups are related to a local Council as separate 
schools are to a school board. The Council guides, suggests, 
and interprets but does not execute. Local Councils are the 
acting representatives of the National Board, fully conversant 
with its standards and policies and working them out in dif¬ 
ferent communities. National Headquarters charters the local 
Council to represent it in the community in which it is formed. 
The Council raises the local budget sometimes through the 
community chest, sometimes by drives, or in other ways. 

Too much emphasis can not be placed upon the importance 
of the local Council. Remember that it can be, if properly 
chosen, the key to the best that the community has to offer, 
such as the opportunities of the schools, museums, studios, 
libraries, parks, and other public facilities. For example, if 
there is a naturalist in the community, Council members ought 
to make him feel that Camp Fire is a youth movement inter¬ 
ested in everything he can pass on. Then the executive and 
Guardians can work out some practical way in which he can 
stimulate their nature study program and make it a living, 
vital thing to girls. 


46 


Handbook for Guardians 


Requirements for Camp Fire Executives 

Every year the demand for Camp Fire executives is increas¬ 
ing, and with the development of girls’ work more is being 
expected of the executive. 

There are many young leaders who aspire to being execu¬ 
tives who do not realize that the standing of an executive 
compares with that of a school supervisor, which position is 
only reached after experience in organizing and proof of suc¬ 
cessful work is shown. The requirements of an executive are 
as follows: 

1. Attractive and gracious personality. 

2. Proven executive ability. 

3. Thorough knowledge and faith in self and organization. 

4. Enthusiastic leadership. 

5. Initiative and creative imagination. 

6. Simple but intelligent viewpoint. 

7. Organizing ability. 

8. Ability to speak in public. 

9. Good health. 

10. Courageous energy. 

ti. Truthfulness. 

12. Knowledge, of and fondness for camping. 

13. College education or its equivalent. 

14. Actual teaching experience or experience in business. 

Duties 

The executive under the direction of her local Council man¬ 
ages the office, directs and supervises group activities of the 
girls and guardians in the city, directs the summer camp, is 
responsible for all publicity, supervises promotion of Camp 
Fire in the community by arranging for speakers before 
churches, men’s and women’s clubs, parent-teachers’ associa¬ 
tions, schools, etc., directs the Guardians’ Association, together 
with the Chairman, makes a monthly record and financial 
report to local Council and to National Headquarters. 

The ideal executive should possess an unlimited stock of 
patience and tact. She should not make snap judgments, and 
above all, she should have an understanding of people. It is 



Organization 47 

very unwise to be too friendly with any one girl or Guardian. 
She must keep an impersonal attitude, and yet be a friend to all. 
She should have a knowledge of other programs, and show the 
true Camp Fire spirit by her tolerance and cooperation. 

An executive should make a definite attempt to be a social 
asset to her community. Her work brings her into contact 
with a great many people and her personality and enthusiasm 
should make them friends of the movement. She should be 
careful of her appearance and should be ready to meet people 
at any time, no matter how busy or crowded her day. 

A person with only one song is a bore. A Camp Fire execu¬ 
tive’s interest should not be limited to her work. She should 
have some recreation or hobby quite apart from it, and should 
be well informed about public events and the political situation 
of her city. 

A good leader is a good listener and knows how to draw out 
and discover the talents of others. Her good judgment will tell 
her who are the ones to follow up and what jobs to give them 
to do, for if she is successful in handling people she does not do 
the work herself, but directs them. Since her position brings 
her into prominence, the last and hardest task of all is whether 
she can always recognize that it is the program and not herself 
which should interest the public. “Grow, not swell,” is a very 
good motto. 



Each girl is interested in designing and using her own symbol 
in decoration 



CHAPTER IV 

HOW TO CARRY OUT THE PROGRAM 

How can we manage really to do all that we wish to do this 
year? Guardians and Camp Fire Girls ask themselves this 
question at the start of a new Camp Fire year. There is so 
much that you wish to do: There are the hikes and the camp¬ 
ing and all the outdoor things that you love. There are the 
Camp Fire meetings which you wish to hold. There is the 
work you plan to do for your town or your school or your 
church. And there are good times—the parties or the entertain¬ 
ments which by no means should be forgotten. How can all 
these be put into the months just ahead ? How can you be cer¬ 
tain that summer will not find you with some especially fine 
plans still not carried out? 

One way of making the most of your time is to work out care¬ 
ful, definite plans not only for next month and for the month 
after that but for all the year. The following way of making 
plans “by the year” has already been used by many girls and 
their leaders and may, perhaps, be useful to your Camp Fire 
in planning for the months that are before us. 

There are three steps in planning a program which may be 
taken: 

i. Make a complete list of all the activities which interest 
you, including what you did last year which you wish 
to continue this year; any new activities of which you 
have heard and wish to try. 

48 





49 


Program Making 

2. From this list, select those which you think will be best for 

your Camp Fire, which you think you can do and do 
well, and in which you are interested. 

3. Next, make out a calendar by months and weeks. 

Does this sound difficult? It will not seem so if you imagine 
your own Camp Fire, girls, Guardian, and all, sitting together, 
making out the program. First there is the list of all the 
activities of which you can think. It is great fun to talk these 
over together, writing them down under the different divisions; 
the Ceremonial meetings, which every Camp Fire holds; the 
Health and out-door activities—hiking, sleeping out, camping, 
skating, tobogganing, swimming—(this list is not only for 
winter time but for summer as well). Next, you may talk over 
and write down all the Service activities—the clothes you wish 
to make for a Day Nursery perhaps; the Christmas Stockings 
you wish to fill; the Story Hour you plan to have at the Child¬ 
ren’s Home; or the work at the School Lunch Room, in which 
you are to help. Then there are special undertakings—the 
giving of a play or an entertainment and, possibly in May or 
June, an exhibit or demonstration of what you have accom¬ 
plished during the year. And, too, the parties—how many of 
them do you wish to have? And what kind—parties, not only 
for yourself, but for your mothers and your fathers (don’t for¬ 
get the fathers!) parties for children, your little brothers and 
sisters, perhaps; parties for other girls’ clubs, for the more fre¬ 
quently girls can get together, the better it is. 

This list will become quite long before you have finished it. 
Perhaps you will discuss it for two meetings, taking one week 
to get ideas wherev.er you can from this book, by writing to Camp 
Fire Headquarters ; by looking in the Book of the Camp Fire Girls 
and by referring to back files of Every girl’s and The Guardian. 
Looking ahead to another year’s program-planning, Guardians 
find it helpful to keep a scrap book or make memoranda of stunts, 
parties and special activities as accounts of them appear in 
Everygirl’s and The Guardian. Keep for reference the pro¬ 
grams printed monthly in The Guardian and remember that 
these are not intended to be ironclad by any means but are 
simply offered as suggestions which you are to adapt and amplify 


SO Handbook for Guardians 

according to your needs. In planning this program, you will 
also consider the special resources of your town. The library, 
museum, some special exhibition, the playground, excursions to 
points of historical interest, all offer possibilities for your 
program planning. Now is the time, too, to think of experts 
who will give the girls and you the benefit of their special 
knowledge. The community nurse would be glad to give your 
girls a baby-craft demonstration, you may know of some one 
who does beautiful dyeing and who would be willing to show 
the girls her work and to help them with theirs, and don’t for¬ 
get the mothers. One Guardian has twelve mothers as her 
assistants, each one of whom is an expert in some particular 
line. 

Choosing What is Best for Your Camp Fire Group 

The next thing to do with this long list is to go over it care¬ 
fully and select from it what your Camp Fire wishes to do and 
can do (sometimes there is a difference between wish and can.) 
For instance, in thinking of Dramatics, perhaps some of the 
girls have said they wish to give a play; perhaps others have 
wished to give a pageant; others, possibly, wish an entertain¬ 
ment with singing and folk dancing and program numbers of 
various kinds. If your Camp Fire does all of these things, the 
chances are that you would spend the entire year rehearsing 
and working upon Dramatics—and it is more than likely that, 
by the end of the year, if you did carry out all these ideas, you 
would be quite tired of Dramatics. What must be decided 
here, then, is just what shall you do: give two short plays, 
perhaps, or one longer play? If a long play, how many weeks 
will be required for rehearsal? Can you give it and, later, a 
varied entertainment, perhaps an exhibition in May or June 
that will show just what your Camp Fire has been doing 
through the year? 

Talking this over, you at last decide upon just which kind of 
Dramatics you wish to have and from the longer list you make 
your choice. Similarly, you may go through each division of 
activities upon the long list, discussing just which ones you 
wish to select. One good way in talking of these activities is 


Program Making M 

to imagine your Camp Fire is actually doing each one. This 
helps in deciding whether you really wish to do a certain thing, 
or not. For if you cannot imagine your Camp Fire as actually 
doing it and doing it well and happily, then the chances are 
that that particular activity is one which you should not select. 

By the time you have talked over your long list and made 
your choice from it, you have a shorter list which gives those 
activities for which you definitely wish to plan, this year. The 
next step is one which answers the question: What time of year 
will be best for each thing? In other words, making out the 
Camp Fire calendar by months, even by weeks. 

Making Out the Calendar 

Making out the calendar is most interesting. It is a good 
idea, for this, to take a sheet of paper for each month. Label 
each sheet, respectively, September, October, November, De¬ 
cember and so on. Next on each sheet place the dates for 
Camp Fire Meetings in the month, with space below each date 
in which to write what you plan to do at that time. 

First, consider the dates for your big special events, especially 
those events which will require some weeks for preparation. It 
is well to enter these upon your calendar, first of all. For 
example, perhaps you are planning to give a Christmas tree 
party for the children of an orphanage or in a hospital, and 
you wish to make little gifts, beforehand. Talking over the 
time when it will be best to give this party, you may decide 
that the week before Christmas or the week after Christmas 
will be just the time for it. The definite day will, of course, be 
set by the Matron at a time most convenient for her. But you 
set it approximately, entering the “Christmas Party” on the 
December sheet. But you are not yet through making entries 
for this party. At what time must you start the work upon the 
gifts? You decide that this work must be started in November. 
Going back to the November sheet, you enter, in the selected 
week, “Start work upon the Christmas party gifts.” 

Perhaps you wish to give a play. If so decide which month 
will be the best time for it. You may decide upon February. 
Having it in February will give you ample time, after Christ- 


52 Handbook for Guardians 

mas, for your rehearsals and February may seem to you to be 
a month when your friends will be free to come to your play, a 
point which always should be considered. As with the Christ¬ 
mas party, you enter the play for the desired week and, going 
back, you enter, some time in January “Start work on our 
play.” 

In this way, the calendar grows. Parties may be considered 
as special events and may be entered next. Having decided 
upon the number of parties which you will probably wish to 
give, you look at the months ahead and decide how frequently 
you will wish to have them. Dates with special significance 
are especially appropriate for parties: Valentine’s Day; St. 
Patrick’s Day; April First, and so on. Perhaps you decide to 
give a Thanksgiving party. It is then entered. Next, the 
Christmas party—already upon the December sheet. Next, the 
question “Do we wish to have a party in January?” In this 
way the social part of your calendar soon appears upon your 
program. Doing this, you can quickly tell whether you are 
planning for too many parties or whether you are placing them 
too closely together. 

With the special events considered and approximately sched¬ 
uled, the next step is to consider the week-by-week work 
which you wish to do at your Camp Fire meetings. Looking at 
the year in this way, time seems to fall into certain natural 
divisions: The weeks before Christmas; the weeks after Christ¬ 
mas and before Lent; and, finally, Spring and the thought of 
summer. Many girls’ clubs plan their programs, so that in 
each of these divisions they accomplish some definite piece of 
work. We have already mentioned the Christmas party and 
the week-by-week work of making the gifts. We have men¬ 
tioned the giving of a play in February and the necessary re¬ 
hearsals and other work upon that. During Lent special Ser¬ 
vice work is often appropriate, such as the making of curtains 
and pillows for the Community Centre social room of your 
home town. As summer approaches, there is the plan for a 
Camp Fire exhibit or the necessary preparations for the Sum¬ 
mer Camp. All this Camp Fire work may be entered upon the 
sheets—and there will still be time left, in the meetings, for 


Program Making S3 

the singing and the Camp Fire business, and the games and 
the general good times that girls always do have when they 
get together. 

It is not hard to plan activities based on the winning of 
honors, excursions and trips taken together to win certain 
honors, making of textile books, and craft articles, or on the 
Seven Crafts. There is a wide choice with which to vary the 
programs of meetings planned especially to stimulate the win¬ 
ning of certain honors or requirements for rank. 

Just here, you will hear many Camp Fire Girls say, “But we 
can’t tell before hand all the things that we will wish to do 
this year. Something special may come up and then we would 
have to change the program. So why make it out?” 

It is quite true that special activities may arise which you 
will wish to undertake. The Town Playground Director may 
plan a Festival, for instance, and she may ask the Camp Fire 
Girls to take part in it, a thing which you will be pleased to 
do. In fact, taking part in the Festival to which so many 
people will come, may be the very best way in which you can 
help the Playground and by which you can let everyone know 
about your Camp Fire. 

But what about the Camp Fire work you had planned for the 
very time when you must now work upon the Festival? Can 
your planned-for activities not be shifted a bit and be in¬ 
cluded into your program anyway? If there is not time to 
do all that you had planned and the Festival does seem most 
important, you may take part in the Festival, later deciding 
just which of the remaining activities you must drop from your 
calendar. 

It is far more satisfactory to plan your program with the 
year ahead of you than to look back over a year just past and 
realize what you ought have accomplished. These three ques¬ 
tions asked and answered in advance will mean a year’s well 
balanced program—What activities are of most interest to 
your group? Of all the things which you may do which is the 
most worth your while? And which month or months is the 
best time in which you can do them? 


54 


Handbook for Guardians 


Program for First Eight Meetings of a New Camp Fire. 

W e Suggest That New Guardians Follow These Suggestions 
Rather Closely. It will Make the Future Easier 

First Meeting 

The first meeting has a four-fold objective, to learn more of 
the Camp Fire program, to discover which activities hold the 
greatest interest for your girls, to effect a temporary organiza¬ 
tion, and to establish group standards. 

Have all the Camp Fire literature and material you can 
secure ready to show the girls. (Send to Camp Fire Headquar¬ 
ters, 31 East 17th Street, New York City, for free literature. 
Make certain the success of your group by educating the par¬ 
ents.) Get an old Camp Fire Girl or Guardian to talk. Have 
your girls tell you why they are interested and what they hope 
to gain from Camp Fire. 

The first meeting is your opportunity to establish standards 
for your group. Your talk should include something of the 
National Organization so that from the first they realize they 
are a part of a great whole. Discuss frankly with them the 
great responsibility they are assuming. Let them know that 
with membership everything they do—every success or failure 
—reflects upon 160,000 other girls. Have them understand that 
Camp Fire’s very greatness lies in its open circle where any 
girl willing to follow the Camp Fire Law may find a place. 
Help them to an understanding of their civic responsibility. 

They are starting a new thing in their town. They must 
work to a plan, fof it must not fail. Conclude your talk with 
the Camp Fire Credo. If practical, have a copy ready to give 
each girl so that she may learn it before the next meeting. 

The Credo sums up the ideals of Camp Fire and is a good 
means of introducing Camp Fire to the home. 

Program of First Meeting 

1. Have girls chat informally while they inspect the material 
you have put out for them. 

2. Guardian Talk: Make it short. Let them feel your keen 


55 


Program Making 

interest. Put all of your faith and enthusiasm and philosophy 
of encouragement into it. You want them to feel that Camp 
Fire is a great adventure where one can find all things possible 
if one believes and works hard enough. 

3. Give each girl an opportunity to tell you why she is inter¬ 
ested and what she hopes to get from Camp Fire. 

4. Learn the Camp Fire Law together. 

5. Election of Officers: Appoint a temporary chairman and 
let her conduct the meetings. (Have the abridged edition of 
“Roberts Rules of Order” ready to lend her.) The officers to 
be elected are President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, 
Scribe, and Song Leader. The Scribe sends a weekly written 
report to the local newspapers and once a month sends a report 
to Everygirl*s Magazine. 

These reports should contain short accounts of the various 
things you have done as a group. Offices hold for six months. 

Plans for Second Meeting 

Learn Credo before second meeting. 

Consider name for Camp Fire group. (The name should 
represent the ambition and ideal of the group.) 

Be thinking of a personal Camp Fire name. 

Earn $1.50 for annual dues and the Book of the Camp Fire 
Girls. Ask each girl to keep a written account of way dues are 
earned. Offer a special local honor to girl who gives the most 
amusing account at the second meeting. 

Close the meeting by repeating the Camp Fire Law. 

A successful Guardian keeps a note book in which she puts 
down the events of each meeting. This will make future pro¬ 
gram planning simple. Nothing undermines a group more than 
having the Guardian neglect to call for things she has asked 
girls to prepare. Don’t depend upon your memory. Write them 
down. 

The objectives for the second meeting are: Effect on perma¬ 
nent organization. Study the Book of the Camp Fire Girls with 
special reference to honor earning. 

Introduce Everygirl’s and plan means of earning subscrip¬ 
tions. 


56 


Handbook for Guardians 


Second Meeting 

Open meeting by repeating Camp Fire Credo in unison. 

Have the applications ready to be signed. Give each girl an 
opportunity to pay her dues and narrate or dramatize the way 
she earned the money. Do not allow any girl to sign the ap¬ 
plication unless her dues have been paid. She is not a member 
until this has been done. 

Have all the girls who have been successful in earning dues 
form a circle and repeat the Law together. 

Discuss the significance of a Camp Fire name and symbol. 
Decide on group name. Have Camp Fire name and symbol book 
ready for reference. A Camp Fire name, whether it be for a 
group or an individual, should symbolize the ideal toward 
which it is striving. 

Read aloud from the Book of the Camp Fire Girls the chapter 
on honors. Have girls select four or five honors to work far as a 
group. Select them from the various crafts such as under 
Homecraft—cook eggs in four ways 5 Healthcraft take exer¬ 
cise night and morning, etc. Make it a matter of pride that 
girls prove successful in earning their group honors. Girls 
may use their own freedom in selecting honors to earn in¬ 
dividually. 

Introduce EverygirVs, the National Camp Fire Magazine. 
It should go monthly to the home of each girl so that each 
Camp Fire girl may have the benefit of its plays, stories, craft 
articles, news, and feel the contact with the other Camp Fire 
girls around the world. Since the girls have recently earned 
money for dues, it will be wise now to consider working in a 
group for Every girl’s subscriptions. (A special rate of 70c. 
is given groups subscribing 100%.) 

The question now arises, how shall you earn it? Have an 
open discussion of the various ways in which it might be done. 
Candy sales are always good, rummage sales, collecting and 
selling papers, magazine subscriptions. (The Camp Fire Girls 
Magazine Bureau, 324 Perry Building, Philadelphia, has an 
excellent plan for earning money. Write to Mr. Charles S. 
Rockhill, at the above address, for information.) Camp Fire 
supper, etc. This is your first public venture. You must give 


Program Making 57 

value received and have a certain success. Decide at the meet¬ 
ing the thing you’ll do, and the time, then plan. Complete all 
arrangements possible. It is wise to remember that the most 
successful enterprises are planned and executed promptly before 
interest lags. 

Plans for Third Meeting 

Ask each girl to make a “Count Book” and put into it in some 
form the story of her Camp Fire experiences to date. You 
might suggest that the first episode be the account of earning 
money for dues and the Book of the Camp Fire Girls. A 
“Count Book” is a memory book. It may be kept in any way — 
Prose, verse or pictorial—and it tells a story to the individual to 
whom it belongs. It is a record of good times. Have an exhibi¬ 
tion of “Count Books” at the fourth meeting. Stress originality. 

Plan a hike. Appoint two girls to lead the hike. Make them 
feel responsible for its success. Agree upon time and place of 
meeting. Name each hike. Call this one The Bacon and Egg 
Hike. Ask each girl to take three slices of bacon, a raw egg, 
a tin cup, spoon and pocket knife, matches and food sufficient 
for a meal. Wear dark skirts and white middies. Establish 
the habit of dressing in Camp Fire uniform (white middy, dark 
blue skirt, and black tie. Insist on clean middies always. There 
is no excuse for a Camp Fire Girl ever starting out with a 
soiled or untidy middy). Arrange with the hike leader to take 
material for cocoa. It will be a lark to make it. (One could 
write reams about how not to make cocoa!) 

Ask the song leader to learn the Walking Song to teach at the 
next meeting. 

Close the meeting by repeating Law of Camp Fire. 

Third Meeting 

The Hike —Every hike should have objectives other than 
exercise and reaching a certain destination. For this hike the 
objective will be to learn something of the rules of hiking and 
to cook successfully becon and eggs on a hot stone. 

When the girls have met at the agreed starting place, the 
hike should be organized and started promptly. One leader is 


58 


Handbook for Guardians 


pace maker, the other rear guard. The pace maker should 
understand that her pace should be that of the slowest member 
of the party. She should have a whistle with instructions to 
blow one blast to stop, two to go on and three to close up the 
line. The rear guard sees that no laggards fall behind. 

If you have a small group of girls, it may seem amusing to 
start a hike off in such a formal fashion, but there is always 
certain satisfaction in knowing the right way to do things. 

Before the hikers start, they should be warned to be on the 
lookout for flat stones long enough to hold three slices of bacon 
and a fried egg. 

If the destination of the hiker is not a stony area, it may be 
necessary to carry stones found along the way, so select thin 
ones that are not heavy to carry. We recall one hike taken by 
sixty Camp Fire Girls where at least fifty carried their stones 
from two to eight miles. 

When you have reached the destination of your hike, call 
your girls together and ask them to do the following: 

Select a good place for a small fire. (Not more than two 
girls cooking together.) Remember that the best fire has a 
back-log or rock. Gather wood and dry leaves and make a 
fire, having first placed the flat stone in the fire, where it will 
heat quickly. At this first hike, let them build their fire with¬ 
out too much supervision or advice. When the next hike comes, 
they’ll be glad to learn how to lay fires correctly. 

When the stone is hot enough to sizzle when water is dropped 
on it, rake fire off stone and brush clean with grass or twigs 
and quickly place three slices of bacon to form a triangle and 
break egg in centre. If sticks have been whittled flat it will 
be an easy matter to turn the egg. The egg and bacon success¬ 
fully cooked, and the great pot of cocoa ready, the feast is on. 

The greatest and most ignored rule of the out-of-doors is “To 
leave the camping place cleaner than you found it.” Camp 
Fire Girls should make this a part of their out-door creed. 
After supper is over and everything ready for the hike home, 
gather around the fire and learn the Walking Song. (Camp 
Fire Songs , C. F. O. price 25c.) If you have no girl in your 
group able to teach songs properly, invite someone in your town 


Program Making 59 

who sings and is interested in girls and good singing to come 
with you and teach you all the song. 

Sing as you walk home. The best hikes are those accom¬ 
panied with good lively songs. The girl who can carry a tune 
on the mouth organ or ukelele or guitar should be encouraged 
to accompany the singers. Every one knows the springy and 
exhuberant feeling you get when following a band. Put that 
feeling into your Camp Fire hike. 

Plans for Fourth Meeting 

A Council Fire — A Council Fire is a gathering together of 
congenial people to discuss mutual ambitions and to repledge 
themselves to their mutual ideals. For the first Council Fire 
the girls should know the following: Camp Fire Law, Credo, 
Walking Song. They should have a “Count Book” started, and 
have chosen a Camp Fire name. In addition, ask each girl to 
look up some story or poem illustrating the law of Camp Fire. 

Wear white middies and dark skirts. If it is practical, hold 
the Council Fire in the early evening when an open fire will 
give the only light. Do not have spectators the first time. 

Fourth Meeting 

The Council Fire —Keep it informal and natural. Here are 
suggestions for your first Council Fire Program. 

Wohelo call by Guardian. 

Enter slowly and when circle is complete, give hand sign and 
sing Wohelo for Aye. 

Roll call. Each girl responding by giving her Camp Fire 
name and the reason for choosing it. 

The Law. Repeat together. Have each girl give the poem, 
story or talk she has prepared. 

Guardian’s talk. (Sum up the successes of the past weeks 
and hopes for the future. Don’t mention the failures. Give 
them new zest to go on.) 

Inspect Count Books and have the best one read. 

Songs. Sing America the Beautiful, The Walking Song and 
any others the girls want to sing. 

The Health Chart. Give one to each girl. 

Close by rising and repeating the Credo. 


60 


Handbook for Guardians 


Plans for Fifth Meeting 

The Business Meeting —Symbolism of the Camp Fire Name. 
Learn Mammy Moon. 

Start active work toward Wood Gatherer’s rank. Ask girls 
to take note book and pencils together with ideas they have for 
individual symbols. 

Fifth Meeting 

Every fourth or fifth meeting should be devoted at least in 
part to business. The objectives of the meeting are: To hold 
a short business meeting, checking up the accomplishments to 
date. (Are all dues paid, has the candy sale been closed and 
the Treasurer’s check mailed to Every girl's for the magazine 
subscriptions?) 

Work on symbols for each girl, learn Mammy Moon in parts, 
and start working for Wood Gatherer’s rank. 

Repeat Camp Fire Law. 

Hold Business Meeting. 

Discuss Camp Fire names and symbols. Use Name and 
Symbol Book. Work out ideas for symbols on squared paper. 
If possible the Guardian should have a loom to show the girls 
and be able to demonstrate exactly how head bands are made. 
Suggest that looms can be easily made from cigar boxes. Keep 
the idea before the girls that a Camp Fire name should be so 
significant that it will be an influence in life long after mem¬ 
bership in a group has ceased. Offer to give help individually 
during the week. 

Learn Mammy Moon. 

Read the requirements for the rank of Wood Gatherer. Plan 
to take the rank at the eighth meeting. This means only one 
month to do everything. The head band should therefore be 
started at once. 

Plans for Sixth Meeting 

A Treasure Hunt — Work individually toward Wood 
Gatherer’s rank. Start bead band. Use fathers, brothers, Boy 
Scouts, etc. f to assist in making looms, or buy wooden loom from 
Outfitting Company. Select and order beads immediately from 


Program Making 61 

Camp Fire Outfitting Co., 197 Greene Street, New York City. 
Do not use iridescent beads. 

Don’t forget the Health Chart, Count Book or Group Honors. 
The Guardian and one or two girls might plan the Treasure 
Hunt. Tell the girls where and when they are to meet. 

Close meeting by repeating Wood Gatherer’s Desire. 

Sixth Meeting 

The Treasure Hunt —There are many variations, and dur¬ 
ing the year you will have opportunity to try several. The first 
one should be simple. The treasure might be a box of home¬ 
made candy sufficient to pass around. If your community is 
small you might start the hunt from your place of meeting, but 
ordinarily it is best to hike to some outlying district and there 
give the first sign. It might read: 

Find a sign 

On a pine 

Near the top of the hill. 

Have the girls start off at a given signal. They will soon 
find the pine and the note fastened there. This note could 
send them to a certain shrub fifty paces from the pine: 

Fifty yards from this tree. 

Marks another sign for me. 

Take them ^walking, do not run, 

Or your future ‘will be done. 

Fifty paces in all directions will keep them busy for some 
time, but soon the fluttering white on a bush will attract some 
keen eyes and the second sign will be theirs. 

Use your own judgment in planning the number of signs. 
Let the length of time you have, decide it. The treasure might 
be discovered in an old log or perhaps buried under a gnarled 
tree. While the girls are enjoying it, let them talk over the 
plans for the next meeting and indeed, for that matter, for the 
weeks or months ahead. These informal chats will give you 
an opportunity to find out the things they want not to do. 


62 


Handbook for Guardians 


Plans for Seventh Meeting 

Pass Tests for Wood Gatherer's Rank —Be able to repeat 
Wood Gatherer’s Desire. 

Know all requirements for this rank. 

Know in addition, Law, Mammy Moon, Walking Song. 

Have the Count Book to date. 

Have head band well started. 

Have note from mother or father, expressing cooperation and 
appreciation of Camp Fire. 

Have written record of honors earned, both individually and 
by groups. 

Close the meeting with songs. 

Seventh Meeting 

Have the girls sit around the fire or in a circle on floor or 
out-of-doors. 

Open meeting with the Credo. 

Using the Book of the Camp Fire Girls, go over each require¬ 
ment, checking the things the girls pass successfully. If they fail 
on some points, give them an opportunity to make them up, either 
at the meeting or by appointment with you later. 

At the close of the test, let each girl have a written record 
of her standing. 

Close the meeting with a short informal talk, expressing your 
pleasure in the things they have done and your enthusiasm for 
the things the months ahead will hold. 

A '• 

Plans for Eighth Meeting 

The Council Fire —Ask girls to wear middies and dark 
skirts and headband. 

Since the first rank emphasizes comradeship, let each girl 
prepare a one-minute-talk or find some poem or story illustrat¬ 
ing friendship. 

Shall there be observers at the meeting? Let the girls decide. 
The Eighth Meeting 

The Council Fire —The primary objective is to take the 
fir§t rank in Camp Fire. The real object of a Council Fire 


Program Making 63 

should always be to check up past achievements and plan future 
ones. 

The Program of Council Fire: 

Wohelo Call. 

Entrance, Hand Sign and Wohelo for Aye . 

Song, America the Beautiful. 

The Law. 

Roll Call. Respond by explaining meaning of headband. 

Awarding rank. Ask the girls who have successfully passed 
the test of Wood Gatherer to form a circle. (Don’t be too dis¬ 
appointed if some must remain seated.) Have them join hands 
and repeat the Wood Gatherer’s Desire. Talk to them infor¬ 
mally about the significance of this rank. Leave with them the 
ideals of comradeship and loyalty. 

Call for talks, poems, etc. 

Award honors. Have each girl dramatize in pantomime two 
of the honors she has won. Make special mention of girls who 
succeeded in earning all of group honors. 

If there are guests present, have one girl tell the story of 
your Camp Fire Group, the things you have done and are 
going to do, etc. 

Walking Song. 

Guardian’s talk or story. 

Mammy Moon. 

The Credo. 

Assuming that your group is now actively organized with 
some definite ideas for Camp Fire, and the majority, if not all 
of the girls, Wood Gatherers, all subscribers to Everygirl’s 
and in possession of a Book of the Camp Fire Girls, you are now 
ready to work out your own program. Headquarters will be 
giving you many helpful suggestions—so read The Guardian 
and Everygirl’s. Get suggestions from other Guardians when¬ 
ever possible. Remember always the girls themselves. It is 
their program. Give them the things they want. 

A well balanced program will have hikes and parties as well 
as business meetings and council fires. Let your girls work 
out programs for at least two months in advance. They will 
enjoy looking ahead to paper chases and Hallowe’en parties, to 


64 


Handbook for Guardians 


Thanksgiving baskets and Christmas Caroling and camping. 
Don’t forget camping, that most important and glorious adven¬ 
ture when you go off to live together for a week or two. Begin 
to make your plans for camp. 

The whole world is yours. Camp Fire will put a new light 
in your eyes and new force to your step. It is wonderful to 
join hands with youth around the world and say, 

“We are the Camp Fire maidens. 

Our faces are turned toward the morning, 

In our hearts is the summer of promise. 

In our hands we hold the next generation, 

United we go forth to meet the future, 

Armed with truth to ourselves 
And love for all” 

Detailed Program of Christmas Activities 

We have told you how to set about planning your programs 
and how to vary and arrange the activities for your groups. 
We have given you very definite suggestions also for the first 
eight meetings if you are a new Guardian or are starting a 
new group. Again we wish to impress upon you that all these 
programs are only suggestions. Like ready-to-wear garments, 
they will need alteration by you if they are to fit the needs of 
your girls with their especial problems. Remember always 
that it is the purpose of our program to fit the needs of girls, 
not to make girls fit the program. Remember, too, that the 
purpose of Camp Fire is to help each girl realize the best that 
is in her, and that it was designed and is being developed 
particularly so that the girls who follow the program do not 
become a type or follow a pattern. 

With this preamble, then, we set before you a typical pro¬ 
gram, well thought out. We have purposely chosen December, 
because of the universality of our interests and activities at the 
Christmas season. 

The first thing to do in making your Christmas plans is to 
look ahead, and to begin looking ahead soon enough. Christ¬ 
mas has a way of staying a speck on the horizon for a long 
time and then suddenly sailing into port without our realizing 


Program Making 65 

it was so near. And we are always wishing the last hectic 
days just before Christmas that we had begun getting ready 
earlier. Therefore begin looking ahead and making your 
Christmas plans in October! 

There is a long list of things that Camp Fire Girls love to 
do for other people at Christmas time. You must not be over¬ 
whelmed if your girls undertake to do several of the things 
that we are listing. If they begin early enough they can under¬ 
take two or three activities and do them well and at the same 
time keep a well-balanced and sane program. Here is choice 
large enough to fit the wishes of any group. 




66 


Handbook for Guardians 


There are three Christmas activities that you cannot begin 
preparing for too soon. These are: 

1. Mending and redecorating old toys. 

2. Caroling. 

3. Community Outdoor Christmas Tree. 

1. Every year it is becoming more popular for Camp Fire 
Girls to collect, mend and redecorate discarded toys and then 
to distribute them to children in hospitals, orphan homes, and 
at the Camp Fire Girls’ Christmas parties. But to do this re¬ 
quires work and careful planning. 

First you must make it generally known by means of news¬ 
paper publicity, public announcements in churches, etc., and by 
posters put in store windows and prominent places what the 
Camp Fire Girls are going to do, that they want discarded 
toys, and when they want them. It might be well to have a 
day for collection of the toys in November and another early 
in December, and another a week before Christmas. 

Before you collect the toys you must have a place to put 
them, your workshop where you are going to renovate them. 
Ask the owner of a vacant store to lend you the place until 
after Christmas. Take one of your girls with you when you 
ask for the store and let the girl tell about the toys. 

Then get people with cars to help you collect the toys on the 
days named. And remember that you must not fail to collect 
all the toys that are offered no matter from vohat district the 
offer comes and no matter ho<w ramshackle the toys may be, and 
you must be gracious in accepting everything offered. You can 
discard the worthless things at the workshop. 

These are the preliminary steps for the Toy Shop, which 
must be taken early. It is necessary to have regular days for 
redecorating and mending. It may be necessary for the girls 
to have help in mending some of the toys. Get Boy Scouts or 
brothers or fathers of your girls to help you with the diffi¬ 
cult ones. 

2. Caroling. One of the loveliest traditions Camp Fire Girls 
have revived all over the country is Caroling at Christmas. 
You know, of course, about the old English waits, who used 


Program Making 67 

to go through the streets on Christmas Eve singing the carols. 
It was the custom for the persons before whose houses they 
sang to throw coins to the singers or invite them into the house 
for refreshments, or to pass out refreshments to them. The 
waits used to dress in a dark brown cloak with a peaked hood, 
much like a monk’s cloak, and one or more of the party carried 
a lantern or a spray of holly. Some of them carried a guitar 
or musical instrument and they sang beautifully. 

Camp Fire Girls who carol must be organized and rehearsed. 
It is not wise to start off to sing carols on the spur of the 
moment. 

Carols must be practiced until they are sung beautifully. 
Teach your girls the various parts to some of them. Do not 
sing all your songs in unison. For carols: Write for book of 
carols and begin practicing them as early as October. “Com¬ 
munity Christmas Carols,” published by H. W. Gray Co., 2 
West 45th Street, New York. “Ten Carols for Community 
Singing.” C. H. Ditson, 8 East 34th Street, New York. 

Earn the money as a group or use money from your treasury 
and buy brown or dark green cotton and make waits’ costumes 
for the carolers. Keep these with your group equipment as 
they can be used year after year. Go to the public library and 
look up pictures of the old English waits and mummers. 

Make attractive and appropriate posters and post them in 
prominent places, announcing that Camp Fire Girls will sing 
carols at houses that have lighted candles in the windows. 

Put the same announcement in the paper. If you live in a 
city or in a large town, state the districts or district in which 
the girls will sing. 

Have it announced in the churches. 

Divide the girls into groups and secure a song leader and a 
chaperon for each group. By dividing in this way you can 
cover more territory. 

State in your announcement that you do not take money for 
caroling. 

If your girls are forced to take money, that is, if coins are 
thrown out of the windows, turn them in to a special fund to 
help somebody in need. 


68 


Handbook for Guardians 


When all is ready, have one responsible person to check up 
on everything, so that nothing is forgotten. 

Follow the lighted candles. 

3. In some smaller cities and towns the Camp Fire Girls 
take entire charge of the Community Christmas Tree. This 
is not a colossal undertaking if plans are made early. Here are 
the first things to do which should be done as early as October: 

1. Get permission from the Mayor or City Council to have 

complete charge of the Community Christmas Tree 
Festival. 

2. Get a written statement from the same official or officials 

stating to what extent the city will cooperate, namely, 
how much money will the city supply or what materials 
and labor will the city supply (the tree, lighting of tree, 
labor for erecting and decorating tree, printing of pro¬ 
grams, carols, etc.). 

3. If the city promises little or nothing, you must get some 

public-spirited citizen, to promise to give the tree. You 
must tactfully remind him of his promise early in 
December. 

4. You must decide on the carols to be sung in your outdoor 

program around the tree. Get some person who knows 
about music and what songs can be sung successfully 
out of doors in the cold to select the carols from the two 
books listed above. Then get the church choirs to co¬ 
operate and ask them to be prepared to sing the chosen 
carols at the tree. The churches of these choirs must be 
notified early so that there will be time for rehearsals. 

5. If the city will not bear the expense of lighting the tree, 

go to the electric company and ask the company to con¬ 
tribute the lighting of the tree to the community. 

6. Invite the Mayor or one of the leading ministers and one 

or two other distinguished persons to be present at the 
festival and to make short speeches. 

When these preliminaries are attended to you have only to 
plan the details. 


Program Making 69 

It is a very beautiful custom to have the Camp Fire Girls go 
through the streets just before dark singing “Come All Ye 
Faithful” as a signal for the people to follow them to the 
community tree. When the people are assembled, let the Mayor 
or some distinguished citizen throw the switch that lights the 
tree and the chorus sing one of the carol selections. 

It is lovely to have the children join hands around the tree 
and sing some carol they all know as a part of the program. 

Remember, it is better to have your celebration too short 
than too long, and make arrangements to have the tree lighted 
every night until New Year’s or Twelfth Night. (The twelfth 
night after Christmas. In some countries it is considered good 
luck to keep all Christmas decorations up until after Twelfth 
Night.) 

Besides the three Christmas activities which we have just 
described, there are others which Camp Fire Girls love. Here 
is a list of the most popular: 

1. A Christmas party for poor children. 

2. Preparing and taking a Christmas dinner, tree and pres¬ 

ents to families in unfortunate circumstances. 

3. Making and filling tarleton stockings for children, to be 

distributed at hospitals, homes, etc. 

4. Selling anti-tuberculosis seals. 

In planning the detailed program in December, then, we 
must take into consideration all these activities. Also we must 
pre-suppose that some preliminary preparation has gone on in 
October and November and that special committees have been 
formed and are already at work. 

First Meeting in December 

1. Opening Song—Rehearsal of Christmas Carol in parts. 

2. Report of Christmas Plans Committees. 

3. Announcing of month’s program. This includes dates 

when girls are to work on toys, to fill stockings, trim 

tree for Christmas party, etc. 

4. Appointing of new committees and assignment of special 

tasks for Christmas plans. Arrangement committee f^r 


70 


Handbook for Guardians 


party—to arrange for place to hold party, etc. Invita¬ 
tion committee, to get names of children, etc., and issue 
invitations. If you are planning to have poor children 
at the party it is always wise to secure the names 
through the organized charities or churches, so that you 
will know that you are having the children who are 
really in need. 

5. Rehearsal of second carol in parts. 

6. Work on tarleton stockings or toys. During the time the 

girls are working one girl might read to the girls. Be 
sure that the selection read is worth while—a play or a 
story, or a poem that has literary merit as well as in¬ 
terest. This would be a good time to read the Christmas 
play that the girls are going to present for the children’s 
entertainment. (If you have no appropriate Christmas 
play in mind, write Mrs. Mabel F. Hobbs, of Drama 
Department of Playgrounds and Recreation Association 
of America, 315 Fourth Avenue, New York, telling her 
the number of girls to take part and that you want it to 
entertain children at your Christmas party, and she will 
help you make a selection. Another play, “Bringing Back 
Santa Claus,” was written especially for such Camp 
Fire Girl parties and was published in Everygirl’s Mag¬ 
azine, December, 1922. A copy should be on file in your 
public library.) If such an entertainment is planned it 
must be short. Do not try to have a program of speeches 
for the children’s party, and yet, at the same time, realize 
that some planned entertainment is necessary. Do not 
consider that the distribution of presents is enough enter¬ 
tainment. Many groups have found by painful experi¬ 
ence that the best time to deliver the presents to the 
children, so as to prevent riot, is when the children are 
leaving. 

7. Assignment of parts for the play and planning costumes, 

etc. 

8. Song, “Lay Me to Sleep in the Sheltering Flame,” sung 

in parts. 


Program Making 


71 


Second Meeting 

1. Song, Christmas Carol, sung in parts. 

2. Report of committees. 

Committee on family to receive gifts must furnish names 
and ages of each child, so children can receive presents 
directed especially to them and appropriate to age, 
needs, etc. 

3. Work on tarleton stockings. If ready, they should be filled 

at this meeting, labelled, and put away in boxes, so that 
at least part of the work is finished. 

4. Song carol rehearsal. 

5. Short play rehearsal. 

Third Meeting 

1. Outdoor hike for Christmas tree. (If in a community 

where tree can be brought in from country. A man or 
Boy Scout might have to accompany the girls on this hike 
to show them how to cut the tree.) 

2. Practice of carol singing out of doors. 

3. Final arrangements made for Christmas festivities. 

Fourth Meeting 

Christmas party or 
Community festival or 

Caroling at houses which have lighted candles in windows, 
or 

Distribution of gifts to adopted families. 

Fifth Meeting 

(A special extra meeting during the holidays of Christmas 
week is often desired.) 

A snowshoe hike or winter picnic. Do not let your girls be 
afraid of picnicking in winter. Send off a party beforehand to 
select the spot and to collect the wood. A fire can be made in 
no time and cocoa, bacon and eggs cooked. If it is very cold 
a large fire should be built to keep the girls warm and a 
smaller one near it for cooking. Sing songs, the carols and the 
Camp Fire songs, sung in parts, around the fire. 


72 


Handbook for Guardians 


Or the girls can have their Christmas week outdoor party, a 
toboggan party or sleigh ride and end at one of the homes, 
where the girls earn honors by preparing and serving the sup¬ 
per. In such cases, the preparations must be made before the 

party so that there will be no long wait when the girls get 

back, cold and tired. 

ADJUSTING THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS PROGRAM 
TO GIRLS AS THEY GROW OLDER 

This paper was read at National Convention in Kansas City, 
Mo., April, 1924, by a successful Guardian who has had eleven 
years’ experience with Camp Fire Girls. 

The other day a Guardian rushed into my office, wept on 

my shoulder, and said, “Oh! What shall I do? I have had 

my group together so long and all of a sudden they do not 
seem interested. They do not wish to earn beads, and even 
our ceremonial has lost its interest. All they talk about are 
the good times they are having in High School and the 
boys they are meeting. But when I said, ‘Well, let’s quit! 
they said ‘No,’ and nearly weep when I propose such a thing. 
Now, what shall I do?” 

Right there is where we begin to analyze the situation. 
They have reached that wonderful age of eighteen, still bear¬ 
ing the earmarks of adolescence but with the aloofness of the 
seventeen or eighteen-year-old—too old entirely for a younger 
girls’ program but not too old to need the wholesome program 
of fun and service of the Camp Fire Girls. 

Through the years of working in their group there has 
come up a togetherness which must be preserved. We have 
held her down to Camp Fire through the early teen years and 
now she has come up and out into a wider scope of activities. 
What are we going to do? Lose our contact? Are we finished? 

She wants exactly those activities we have been offering her, 
but wants them in a different way. It is therefore not a matter 
of changing the program, but is a matter of presenting it to 
her in a different way in order that we may hold her interest. 
It is, then, a change of methods instead of a change of 
program. 


73 


Program Making 

IVhat is it the seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl wants? 
The Guardian said it. She said they were talking so much 
about boys and the good times in High School. That is it. 
More social life and more fun, a more significant program of 
service, because girls do want a serious side to their program 
touching the deeper significance of life. 

Instead of saying to these girls who have reached the stage 
beyond beads and costumes, “All right, let us disband!” say, “If 
you still care for Camp Fire, let us keep our identification—pay 
our dues—but broaden our social program.” “Broaden our social 
program” may sound too abstract, so the wise Guardian will 
at once illustrate by saying, “Wouldn’t it be fun, two weeks 
from today, to give a reception or party and invite the basket 
ball team from High School or the Young Men’s Bible Class or 
the Senior Class in High, and make it nice.” Then jaded 
interest will revive and a sparkle will come in each eye. 

You might say to a small eleven-year-old Camp Fire Girl, 
“Earn honor 80,” which is to teach a boy to dance, and she 
will conscientiously earn it. It means a bead. But to the older 
girl, presented to her in an older girl way, it means social life, 
companionship, party dresses, and all sorts of exciting things. 
And while discussing the party will come the inevitable ques¬ 
tion, “What shall we wear?” And there is an opportunity for 
starting an interest which will hold her. So, forgetting beads 
and costumes for a time, we will treat her as a real woman 
and talk and plan with her woman to woman, always keeping 
in mind that same character-building program we have always 
given her. 

Let us consider activities that appeal. I should place them 
under three headings: Recreation, Service, Knowledge. Let 
us begin with “Pursue Knowledge,” and start with something 
which will hold and grip every girl, because, founded on the 
desire to love and be loved, is the perfectly natural desire to be 
attractive. Why is it if you propose a charm school the enroll¬ 
ment will be large? 

Because it meets that basic need in her life. So, as an answer 
to that question, “What shall we wear?” is the follow-up, 
“Let us study what we will wear,” and from that grows the 


74 


Handbook for Guardians 


charm school teaching older girls not only the beauty of per¬ 
sonal appearance but how to gain personality and poise, how 
to converse well, how to be well-mannered, how to please. 
This will rebuild interest and will meet one of the desires of 
adult girlhood in your community. 

Taking as a basis another very deep desire, we build further. 
This desire is not spoken of or talked'about but is the very 
fabric of her dreams. It is the vision of her own home, fash¬ 
ioned and tended by her own hands, her spirit ruling; there¬ 
fore anything that will help her hold these dreams will interest 
her, as: The study of practical and attractive homes, the 
study of hangings and rugs, draperies, lovely lamps, to learn 
to paint furniture, and block print curtains, all interest and 
delight her. I have marveled at the interest girls have in 
budgets and how they will work over this problem—given 
$200.00 a month for husband, wife and child, how much may 
be spent on rent? 

Interesting instruction was given a group of girls by taking 
them to a furniture store, and there a clever salesman filled an 
empty space with furniture, demonstrating to the girls a proper 
scheme of interior decoration. 

Many other projects will come to you as you develop your 
charm school and course in home planning. 

Recreation takes on a different cloak at this age. Instead of 
childish parties, it assumes the rank of teas, receptions, and 
dances. During the war time we found out many valuable 
things about dancing, since that was of necessity the universal 
form of entertainment at that time. We demanded standards of 
posture, music, courtesy, and although we had a difficult time 
of it at first, eventually both soldiers and girls took pride in a 
delightfully conducted dance. Some of you will not have that 
problem; some of you will. 

There are many activities older girls enjoy together. 

Singing 

Girls love to sing, and it is really a rare case when a young 
girl has no voice for group singing. One very excellent activity 
for older girls is a glee club. If the Guardian is not trained 


Program Making 75 

or has no musical ability for leading these girls there is always 
someone in the community who would be willing to do it. 
Soon the waning interest in Camp Fire will revive. Besides 
the Camp Fire Girls’ songs, there are many other beautiful 
songs which girls can sing together which would form the 
nucleus for a program or would give great pleasure to the 
girls themselves while singing them. 

Dramatics 

Out of 3,000 girls signed up in one city, 1,100 wished to be 
in a play, and each one wished to be the star. Unfortunate 
leadership did not give this the impetus it should have received. 
The first meeting called brought 400 girls. Instead of recog¬ 
nizing mob psychology and saying, “How wonderful you look! 
Wouldn’t it be delightful to give something in which everyone 
of you could take part. How would you enjoy giving a girls’ 
pageant, some of you as fog maidens, floating in with grey 
garments, some of you in a dance of the rainbow, one of you 
dressed in gorgeous orange colors, as lightning, etc.?” This 
procedure would have caught and held the imagination of the 
girls. Not seeing this, the leader began the girls on tone work, 
which continued through the evening. Tone work is right and 
proper under other circumstances, but not while trying to hold 
large groups of active girls. At the next meeting forty were 
present, and soon the leader was wondering why the girls did 
not come. 

^Esthetic Dancing 

It is far better to have your group of girls stay bound to¬ 
gether by an interest in aesthetic dancing than to have the group 
disband and the girls lose their interest in Camp Fire ideals. 
Interest in interpretive dancing may be aroused by the idea of 
some pageant or exhibit, but you will find that little stim¬ 
ulating is necessary. Here, of course, a trained person would 
have to be the teacher; but there is no reason why Camp Fire 
Girls could not earn the money to pay for such a teacher, and 
in no time you might find they would be teaching interpretive 
dancing to other groups of younger girls in their community. 


76 


Handbook for Guardians 


There is a large scope of out-of-doof activity, as hiking, 
tennis, swimming and camping. 

Service Projects 

The following to the girls is the best part of the program. 
What may we do for others? All girls love this part of the 
program. 

Projects connected with Service have been done with most 
success by Camp Fire groups of older girls—community fire¬ 
places, tourist parks, community bungalows or week-end camps 
near enough to town for girls to hike to the cottage or bunga¬ 
low. In some places the girls have established hikes to the site 
for the community fireplace, and the various groups in the city 
hike to the site carrying stones for the fireplace. In some places 
the girls merely rent a house to be used for a community 
house. They have started story classes for children, craft 
classes for children, and social meetings for all girls of the 
community at such houses. 

In one city the girls were given a ship, which they converted 
into headquarters and a community center for the girls of the 
surrounding country. In such larger projects as these the 
fathers and mothers and brothers and uncles and aunts become 
interested and join in the work of clearing the land, painting 
or other manual labor. The mothers make curtains and will 
take a share in the planning. By so doing, the project becomes 
a community interest and is for the good of the entire com¬ 
munity. 

In other places the older girls’ interest is held by having 
established a Saturday Day Nursery in the downtown section 
for the children of women who must spend Saturday shopping. 
The girls tell stories to the children, give them their naps and 
feed them, and make a small income for themselves as well as 
doing real public service. 

Of course, at Christmas time the older girls can take charge, 
and do in many places, of the entire community Christmas tree 
celebration. 

Many of the Christmas plans outlined earlier in this chapter 
appeal especially to the older girl. 


77 


Program Making 

Have your older girls tried taking small Christmas trees to 
inmates in a hospital? A friend and her group of girls once 
did this, making great effort to decorate these little trees. They 
carried them to the hospital Christmas morning and silently 
placed them before the bed of the sick ones and silently went 
out. As nothing whatever was said about them, this friend 
was wondering in her heart whether the service was worth 
while. But in a day or so a letter was brought to her from a 
gentleman whose wife was ill in the hospital and who had 
received her little tree. His wife had been so pleased that he 
enclosed money to have trees decorated and delivered the next 
year and stated he would send money each year, that it might 
be perpetuated. 

Did you ever have your group sing in an Old Ladies’ Home? 
We did at one time, and I had selected some perfectly good 
songs, I thought. It happened one of my little girls sang a 
solo, and on receiving an encore sang, without consulting me, 
“Fido Is a Hot Dog Now.” And to my utter surprise the old 
ladies fairly rocked in their chairs with laughter. I learned a 
valuable lesson. They did not want “Home, Sweet Home” to 
reopen old wounds; they wanted fun. I would not recommend 
the above song, but would suggest songs that leave a happy 
memory. 

In one community twelve groups of Camp Fire Girls have 
each taken a month and celebrate all the birthdays that fall in 
that month among the old people at the Old Folk’s Home. The 
group having November, for instance, gets the names of the 
people having birthdays in November and then gives a birth¬ 
day party at the home, with favors and luxuries and presents. 
There is little need for comment on the delight their plan gives 
to the old people. 

The same plan could be followed with children’s homes and 
hospitals. There is no one too young or too old to enjoy a 
birthday party. 

A doll exhibit is delightful for little children. Ask them to 
bring their very own babies as this doll exhibit is not a fancy 
doll show but an exhibit of the dolls little children carry in 
their arms. 


78 


Handbook for Guardians 


It is fun for an older girl to dress as a gypsy or fairy and 
suddenly appear on the playground, gather all the children 
about and look into their eager faces while telling them child 
stories. 

Block parties may be organized by older girls where there 
are few playgrounds. Receive permission from the city to use 
a street that is level and has no street car traffic. Announce 
through the papers that the girls will play with all the chil¬ 
dren in the neighborhood at a certain stated time. The children 
will come running. Games for boys can be played at one end, 
games for girls can be played at another, and games for little 
children in the center. On another day another street in a 
new community can be used, until your city is covered and all 
children have had a chance at organized play. 

There is no reason for a Guardian’s saying that the girls 
outgrow the Camp Fire Program. Of course, normal girls out¬ 
grow the winning of honors and ranks, but the Camp Fire Pro¬ 
gram is elastic, because Guardians have always been encouraged 
to make it fit the needs of their girls and because there are so 
many things which older girls are interested in which we wish to 
incorporate in our program for older girls. It is surely the fault 
of the Guardian when girls lose interest. If the Guardian has 
no imagination, cannot look ahead and plan things that will 
interest growing girls, or if she will not take the time to find 
out, she will find, of course, that interest will lag and her 
girls will be tiring; but because Camp Fire ideals are worth¬ 
while ideals for all ages, it is worth while for Guardians to 
make every effort to adapt and even make radical changes in 
her program to keep the girls in Camp Fire. 

STIMULATING AN INTEREST IN WINNING 
RANKS 

Whether or not the girls are eager to win all three ranks in 
Camp Fire many times rests with the Guardian. To set the re¬ 
quirements for the three ranks, especially for Fire Maker and 
Torch Bearer before a girl and say, “Come, let’s see if you can 
fulfill these,” is discouraging. It is like reading the questions 
on an examination paper and getting panicky before you start. 


Program Making 79 

The wise Guardian will plan activities for the group that 
will necessitate some of the girls’ working for certain require¬ 
ments without the girls’ being conscious that the work is a re¬ 
quirement. For instance, the preparation and serving of the 
meals in camp or on a hike or an over-night trip. Select some¬ 
times girls who are in line for Fire Maker’s Rank to take com¬ 
plete responsibility of the supper or lunch, or call upon such 
girls to give five minutes talks on some phase of Camp Fire at a 
Council Fire. 

With such direction on the part of the Guardian, girls have 
fulfilled their requirements for rank before they realize it. 

Another way to stimulate an interest in ranks is to have in 
your city a Torch Bearers’ Club and a Fire Makers’ Club, made 
up of the Torch Bearers and Fire Makers from all the groups 
in town. These clubs should not meet too often, but they might 
hike together or plan social functions of their own. 

Other Guardians have let the Torch Bearers and Fire Mak¬ 
ers form a council to plan the year’s program of activities. 

The requirements for the three ranks have been made after 
years of experimenting and experience of Guardians all over the 
country. They have been changed and modified from time to 
time, always with the development of the individual girl in 
view. At the Conference of Executives, held in Kansas City, 
Mo., in March, 1924, certain changes in the requirements were 
again suggested to the end that our Camp Fire standards might 
be even higher than what they had previously been. These 
changes were presented to the Executive Committee of the Na¬ 
tional Board of Directors where they were again modified 
somewhat before being submitted to the National Board for 
ratification. They are now established as the requirements for 
membership and rank. See Book of Camp Fire Girls. 

Note: We recommend this new book by Charles Smith, 
“Games and Recreational Methods.” It is published by Dodd, 
Mead & Co., New York, but it can be obtained from the Camp 
Fire Outfitting Co. You will find it extremely helpful in plan¬ 
ning your programs. 



CHAPTER V 


THE COUNCIL FIRE 

The Council Fire is the formal gathering of the group. 
There is no requirement or rule for the frequency of such 
meetings. It is proven to be the case, however, with most 
Guardians, that once in two or three months is often enough 
to hold a Council Fire. Guardians should hold them when 
the girls want them and ask for them, if it is not too often 
to spoil them by making them hackneyed or common. 

The Council Fire is one of the distinctive points in the Camp 
Fire activities, inasmuch as it is conducted with certain cere¬ 
monies and ritual. The symbol of the fire as the heart or cen¬ 
ter of the home as well as of out-of-door life, is the beginning 
of the Camp Fire symbolism, which enriches and makes sig¬ 
nificant the program of health and service. 

The Camp Fire Girls come to a Council Fire with dignity 
and sincerity. Around the fire they rededicate themselves quite 
frankly to their common ideals; they receive their ranks and 
their honor beads as recognition of work well done ; they sing 
their songs; they talk over their problems and aspirations. 

The Guardian should remember that the Council Fire is a 
meeting of girls for the girls. It is not meant to be a spectacle 
or an exhibit or demonstration of Camp Fire activities. Visitors 
should seldom be invited to a Council Fire, and if they are 


80 






The Council Fire 81 

present they should be told that it is not an entertainment, but 
a ceremonial meeting. 

And because the Council Fire is a meeting of the girls, they 
should take part in the planning of the program for the meeting, 
so that it will be an expression of them and not of the Guardian. 
At the meeting previous to the Council Fire, the Guardian 
should get the suggestions and views of the girls, and should 
talk over with the girls their requirements for rank and honors. 

To have the Council Fire a success, the Guardian must make 
an attempt to obtain an atmosphere of dignity and beauty for 
the meeting. Consideration of the following points will help 
establish the background and atmosphere which we desire for 
our Council Fire: 

1. The choice of a site, if the Council Fire is to be out of 

doors. Choose a place that is naturally beautiful and 
secluded. Be willing to walk some distance to a hill or 
lake or river bank or wood, rather than have your 
Council Fire in less beautiful surroundings. Remem¬ 
ber that Council Fires should be held out of doors in 
preference to indoors, whenever possible. Plenty of 
wood should be collected beforehand and piled near the 
place the fire is to be lighted. 

2. Choice of room, decorations, etc. If the room is a beau¬ 

tiful room to begin with, there is no need for decoration. 
In either case, the decorations should be simple and 
dignified and beautiful. 

3. If the Council Fire is indoors, in a room which has a 

fireplace, the Council Fire could be in form of a semi¬ 
circle about the fireplace. If it is impossible to find a 
room with a fireplace, candles may be substituted. If 
visitors are present, they should be informed why can¬ 
dles are used, and that they are the symbols for the fire. 

4. If candles are used, great care should be taken in selecting 

the candlesticks. They should be simple in line and 
alike. It is usually possible to secure the use of simple 
candlesticks of brass or glass or iron. A bettei plan is 
to have the girls make them of wood or clay as part 
of their handcraft work. They could then be kept as 
property of the group. 


82 


Handbook, for Guardians 


5. The jgirls should wear ceremonial gowns and dark shoes 

or moccasins. (Never white shoes.) The girls who 
have no gowns should wear dark blue skirts, clean 
white middies, and black ties, or red, if red is pre¬ 
ferred. (All girls should wear the same colored ties, 
of course.) All girls should wear headbands. 

6. The girls should maintain dignified silence before they 

enter the circle, and throughout the Council Fire. 

7. The manner of entering is of great importance. The 

girls should file in slowly and without music, form a 
circle (or semi-circle around a fireplace) around the 
the fire or candles, and remain standing until given 
the signal to be seated. 

8. Some groups make their own mats of uniform color and 

decorated with symbols. These mats protect the gown 
and the girl, if the ground is damp. If this is done, the 
girls should enter, carrying their mats, all using their 
right hands or all using their left hands. 

9. Every girl should know the songs and the words (in 

parts in the case of Camp Fire songs) which are to 
be sung. 

10. Any special music or poetry that is introduced for special 
occasion should be chosen carefully, so that it is both 
beautiful and appropriate. 

Guardians must remember that the programs offered are 
only sample programs for suggestion. There is no one “right” 
way and no “wrong” way to plan a Council Fire program or 
to use the suggested ritual. The programs given have been 
tried and have been proven beautiful, but there are many 
others which would work just as well. The Guardians and 
girls often work out a simple ceremony that is far more beau¬ 
tiful to them than those given. Any ritual does more harm 
than good if the girls just mumble phrases that mean nothing to 
them. Be sure your girls understand *and mean what they are 
saying. 

Many times Guardians have their girls each rise and con¬ 
tribute something to the Council Fire—a poem, a little talk, a 
short piece of prose. 


83 


The Council Fire 

Guardians should never get into the way of having their 
Council Fire ceremonies always the same. The programs 
should be varied, and different ritual used, so that they will 
not become commonplace. 

It is not wise to try to include any dramatics in a Council 
Fire, with the exception of simple, spontaneous pantomime to 
describe the winning of certain honors. It is becoming the 
opinion of most Guardians that dances are usually inappropri¬ 
ate also, because to be beautiful they must be done by girls 
specially trained and are not, therefore, in keeping with the 
spirit of Council Fire, the place where everyone takes an 
equal part. Dances are inappropriate also, as they are in the 
nature of “entertainment.” 

The Guardian who leads the Council Fire often gives a 
short talk. Such talks should be simple and direct. The 

Guardians get ideas for such talks from The Guardian or 

from Everygirl’s. Usually the Guardian will find that she can 
make the best talk from her own experience and observation. 
She should bear in mind, however, that it is unwise to be 
“preachy.” 

The actual lighting of the fire or candles can be done in any 
number of ways. Sometimes the fire is lighted before the 
girls enter. Usually it is lighted with some ceremony or 

ritual after the girls are seated. It is not necessary to make 

fire with rubbing sticks, although the operation is interesting. 
Unless the person making fire has had enough experience to 
get a spark quickly, it will become tiresome and the girls will 
grow restless waiting. 

Sample Programs for Council Fires 

1. Entrance of Guardian. 

2. Wohelo call answered by girls in distance. 

3. Entrance of girls. 

4. Handsign. 

5. Signal for girls to be seated. 

6. Lighting of the fire or candles. 

Any candle or fire lighting ceremony may be used. 

7. Song, “Burn, Fire, Burn,” or “Mystic Fire,” sung in parts. 


84 Handbook for Guardians 

8. Roll call. 

This can be done by the Guardian calling the Camp 
Fire names and the girls simply responding “Kolah” 
(meaning present), or by each girl rising in turn and 
giving her Camp Fire name and its meaning and why 
she chose it. 

9. The Camp Fire Law—said in unison or by one girl with 

a good voice. It is wise sometimes to have had the 
girls choose for some specified reason the girl who is 
to recite the Law. 

10. Reading of the Camp Fire Count, or talks by girls. Some¬ 

times these may be “Seek Beauty” talks, or talks illus¬ 
trating any other point of the Law. 

11. Awarding of Honors. 

The candidates for honors might describe, either ver¬ 
bally or in pantomime, the manner in which some of 
the honors were earned. The Guardian might ask 
each girl to describe the winning of her hardest honor, 
or select the honors from one particular craft which 
she feels needs emphasizing. 

12. Camp Fire song (sung in parts). 

13. Receiving new members. 

New members should always be received into the group 
at a Council Fire, and with some ceremony. 

14. Awarding of Ranks. 

15. Song. 

16. Guardian’s talk or talk by girls. 

17. Closing song, “Lay me to sleep in the Sheltering Flame,” 

or any other appropriate song. 

Sunday Ceremonial 

Guardians are realizing more and more the possibilities of 
using the Council Fire as a great opportunity for Sunday, 
either in private with the girls, or in the Parish House, or 
even having it take the place of the Vesper Service. This 
Council could be held in three ways: 

1. A Grand Council Fire which is held by vote of all the 
Guardians, the program being carried out in the usual way. 

2. A Council Fire of the Camp Fires of a certain church, 


The Council Fire 


85 


neighboring Camp Fires being invited to attend and partici¬ 
pate, in which case the relation is that of hostess and guests. 

3. Just a Church Council Fire at a Sunday Service. “Lay 
Me to Sleep” is a good song for the occasion. All hymns, 
Bible readings, and talks should be chosen to illustrate the 
Camp Fire Law and Ideajs: work, health, and love, fire, 
beauty, and nature. The awarding of honors and conferring 
of ranks at this time is not desirable. 

The following is a suggested program: 

Sunday Council Fire (indoor or outdoor). 

1. Voluntary (appropriate music). 

2. Hymn. 

3. Entrance of girls (in silence or to very soft music). 

4. Hand sign of Fire, and the singing of “Wohelo for Aye.” 

5. Candle ceremony. 

6. “Burn, Fire, Burn,” or “Mystic Fire.” 

7. Law of the Fire. 

8. Repeat the Desires of the Wood Gatherer, Fire Maker, 

and Torch Bearers in turn. 

9. Bible reading by three or seven girls to illustrate Wohelo 

or the Law. 

Seek Beauty—Matthew 6 :28-29. 

Give Service—Matthew 16:24-28. 

Be Trustworthy—Matthew 25:21. 

Glorify Work—Proverbs 31:10-29. 

Pursue Knowledge—Proverbs 3:13-18. 

Hold on to Health—I Corinthians 3 : 16-17. 

Be Happy—John 15:9-13. 

10. A Bible story might be enacted in pantomime while the 
story is read. Suggestions: The Story of the finding of 
Moses, or Ruth and Naomi, 
n. Hymn. 

12. Camp Fire Address. 

13. Hymn sung by Camp Fire Girls. 

14. “Lay Me to Sleep” (girls are all seated). 

15. Prayer and Benediction. 

16. “Now Our Camp Fire’s Burning Low.” (This should be 

sung softly while the circle quietly files out. One verse 
should be sung as an echo when all the girls are out.) 


86 Handbook for Guardians 

SUGGESTIONS FOR CEREMONIES AND RITUAL 

Fire or Candle Lighting Ceremony—No. I 

Three girls are selected to light the three candles or to light 
the fire from three sides. The Guardian holds a lighted taper 
or candle, and the first girl lights her taper from the Guardian’s 
light. She then lights the candle or puts her taper into the 
fire, saying: 

“I light the light of Work, for Wohelo means work.” She 
lights one candle, then stands and says: 

“We glorify work, because through 
work we are free. We work to 
win, to conquer, to be masters. 

We work for the joy of the work¬ 
ing, and because we are free. 

Wohelo means work.” 

She then rises and stands until the ceremony is completed. 
The second girl then lights her taper from the Guardian’s 
light, lights her candle, or, in case of a fire, puts her taper 
into the fire, saying: 

“We hold on to health, because 
through health we serve and are 
happy. In caring for the health 
and beauty of our persons we are 
caring for the very shrine of the 
Great Spirit. 

Wohelo means health.” 

She also remains standing throughout the ceremony. The 
third girl does just as the other two girls have done, saying: 

“We light the Light of Love for 
love is comradeship and motherhood, 
and fatherhood, and all dear kinship. 

Love is the joy of service so deep that 
self is forgotten. 

Wohelo means Love.” 

The three girls then return to their places in the circle. 


The Council Fire 


87 


Fire Lighting Ceremony—No. II 

This ceremony originated in England, and is based on the 
poem, “The Sacrament of Fire,” by kind permission of the 
author, John Oxenham. 

The fire must have been laid beforehand. While all girls 
kneel on one knee, the Guardian, holding a light, repeats: 
Kneel always when you light a fire! 

Kneel reverently, and thankful be 
For God’s unfailing charity, 

And on the ascending flame inspire 
A little prayer, that shall upbear 
The incense of your thankfulness 
For this sweet grace 
Of warmth and light! 

For here again is sacrifice 
For your delight. 

The light is then passed from hand to hand round the circle, 
ending with a Torch Bearer, who, kneeling, kindles the fire. 

A Fire Maker then steps forward and places wood upon the 
fire, repeating as she does it: 

Within the wood, 

That lived a joyous life 

Through sunny days and rainy days 

And winter storms and strife; 

Within the peat 

That drank the moorland sweet 
Of bracken, whin, and sweet bell-heather, 

And all the joy of gold gorse feather 
Flaming like Love in wintriest weather— 

While snug below, in sun and snow, 

Peat heard the beat of the padding feet 
Of foal and dam, and ewe and lamb, 

And the stamp of old bell-wether;— 

A second Fire Maker, placing a small piece of coal upon the 
fire, repeats: 

Within the coal, 

Where forests lie entombed, 


88 


Handbook for Guardians 


Oak, elm and chestnut, beech and red pine bole, 

God shrined His sunshine and enwombed 
For you these stores of light and heat, 

Your life—yours to complete— 

These all have died that you might live; 

Yours now the high prerogative 
To loose their long captivities— 

To give them new sweet span of life 
And fresh activities. 

All girls unite in saying: 

Kneel always when you light a fire! 

Kneel reverently, 

And grateful be 

To God for His unfailing Charity! 

The Awarding of Honors—No. I 

The girls who expect to have honors awarded enter the 
circle. The Guardian asks each girl certain questions and calls 
for dramatization in pantomime of the winning of certain 
honors. She then awards the honor beads and expresses the 
following ideas in her own words: 

“You who are standing hold in your hands symbols of work 
accomplished, of wholesome habits of health established, of 
service given to others. Keep them and treasure them, for they 
are the record of your efforts to live the Law of the Fire.” 

The Work Song closes this part of the program. 

The Awarding of Honors—No. II 

Same as above only Guardian says: 

As a Guardian of the Fire 
I give you these beads; 

Their value is but small; 

Except to mark the road 
By which you seek your goal. 

Each effort, made to live 

A life where Wohelo 

Holds sway, may have its place 


The Council Fire 


89 


Upon your gown, but beads 
Are only signs to point 
To higher thing that you, 

Assured by past success, 

May do, to love and serve 
Your fellow-men and God. 

The Awarding of Honors—No. Ill 

This ceremony is based upon the poem, “The Sacrament of 
Work,” by kind permission of the author, John Oxenham. 

After the work has been exhibited, and the Guardian is satis¬ 
fied that the honors shall be awarded, the girls kneel in the 
circle, leaning back upon their heels, and holding their honor 
beads previously won, repeat: 

Upon the bended knees thank God for work, 

Work—once man’s penance, now his high reward! 

For work to do and strength to do the work, 

We thank thee, Lord! 

Some toil for love, and some for simple greed, 

Some reap a harvest past their utmost need, 

More, in their less find truer happiness, 

And all, in work, relief from bitterness. 

Upon thy bended knees, thank God for work! 

In workless days all ills and evils lurk, 

For work to do, and strength to do the work 
We thank three, Lord! 

The girls then stand, and those receiving beads step for¬ 
ward. The Guardian hands them the beads, saying: 

These beads are symbols of work accomplished. May they 
also serve as reminders that service lies at hand. 

Receiving New Members—No. I 

The girls who are going to become Camp Fire Girls take 
their places just outside the circle near the Guardian. At the 
appointed time the Guardian calls upon two members of the 


90 Handbook for Guardians 

circle to escort the new girls into the circle. They all stand 
near the fire; the Guardian then says: “Two (or any number) 
maidens have come desiring to sit by our fire and to tend it. 
As we grow in numbers may we grow in Work, Health, and 
Love.” 

The girls all rise, the Guardian turns to the new girls and 
says to the first: “Is it your desire to become a Camp Fire 
Girl and to follow the Law of the Fire?” 

The Girl says: “It is my desire to become a Camp Fire Girl 
and to obey the Law of the Camp Fire which is to” (Here she 
repeats the Law). “This Law of the Fire I strive to follow.” 

Then the Guardian says “As Guardian of the Fire, we wel¬ 
come you as a member of the - Camp Fire.” 

Receiving New Members—No. II 

While two girls hold the Charter, the Guardian reads it, and 
says, “This is the Charter of. Is it your desire to be¬ 

come a Camp Fire Girl?” The girl will reply, “It is my desire 
to become a Camp Fire Girl, and to follow the law of the fire, 
which is to 

Seek Beauty. 

Give Service 

Pursue Knowledge. 

Be Trustworthy. 

Hold on to Health. 

Glorify Work. 

Be Happy. 

This law of the Camp Fire I shall strive to follow.” 

She then signs a list of members hung from the Charter, or, 
if preferred, in the Count Book. After this the Guardian says, 
“This Charter is now yours. In striving to follow the law, you 
may find the fullest life open to you. Share it with your Camp 
Fire sisters, giving of your best, and taking from each the best 
she has to give, for you can only keep what you give away.” 
Two girls then come forward, and, placing the new member 
between them, draw her into the circle, when with linked hands, 
all sing “Wohelo for Aye.” 




The Council Fire 


91 


Conferring of Ranks 

IVood Gatherer’s Rank —The Guardian asks the girl or girls 
who are ready to become Wood Gatherers to enter the circle. 
She then asks them certain questions which pertain to the re¬ 
quirements for the rank. 

Ring Ceremony 

The names and dues should be sent to National Headquarters 
so that the rings or pins may have been ordered and ready 
for presentation. The Guardian presents the membership ring 
to the girl and says: “As Guardian of the Fire, I place on 
the little finger of your left hand this ring with its fagot of 
seven twigs, symbolic of the seven points of the Law of the 
Fire, which you have here expressed your desire to follow, and 
with the three circles on either side, symbolic of the three watch¬ 
words of this organization, Work r Health, and Love.” The 
girls all rise and sing “Wohelo for Aye” or a welcoming song. 

Fire Extinguishing Ceremony—No. I 

The Guardian says: “Tonight together we have dreamed 
dreams and seen visions; but dreams are only of value when 
they are made concrete through action. As we extinguish the 
light, may its inspiration be transferred to us.” 

A Fire Maker then extinguishes the light of Work, saying 
“May the brightness of this light illumine each service rendered 
during the coming weeks.” 

A second Fire Maker extinguishes the light of Health, say¬ 
ing, “May the light of health be reflected in us, that it may 
lighten the lives of those about us.” 

A third Fire Maker extinguishes the light of Love, saying, 
“May the glow of love remain in our hearts and help us to 
warm the hearts of others.” 

The Guardian then crosses hands with one candidate at a 
time, saying “(Name) crosses her hands with mine, thus form¬ 
ing the crossed logs, symbolic of Camp Fire and her desire. 
Repeat after me— 


I . desire to be loyal to the ideals of Camp Fire. 

I . desire to be loyal to my Camp Fire Group.” 




92 


Handbook for Guardians 


When each candidate has gone through this ceremony, the 
candidates together repeat the Wood Gatherer’s Desire. The 
rest of the circle rises and with arms about each other’s shoul¬ 
ders (signifiying the fagots bound together) repeat the Wood 
Gatherer’s Desire in response. 

The new Wood Gatherers then step back into the circle. 

Fire Maker's Rank —Much the same plan as the above in 
Wood Gatherer may be followed for the Installation of Fire 
Maker. The Guardian should have the bracelets ready to pre¬ 
sent to the candidates at this time. When she places the brace¬ 
lets on the girl’s arm, she may say: 

“Upon your arm a charm I place 
A charm of unseen fire, 

To burn within your heart of hearts 
And light your soul to its desire, 

Upon your arm this silver charm.” 

—or something like this: 

“This band of silver is the symbol of real progress in the 
art of living, for by earning the right to wear it, you have 
proven yourself a helpful daughter, a trustworthy friend, 
and a useful and intelligent citizen.” 

The candidates then repeat the Fire Maker’s Desire, and the 
rest of the Torch Bearers and old Fire Makers present step a 
few paces forward and repeat the Desire in response. 

All the girls then resume their places in the circle. 

Torch Bearer's Rank —As this rank is the most difficult to 
attain, it should have special recognition. The Guardian should 
give a summary of the girl’s Camp Fire work and show in 
what respect she has proved herself capable of leading others 
and bringing out the best that is in them. If the girl wins 
the rank as a craftsman, she should demonstrate in some way 
her special craft. 

It is well for the Guardian to give a resume or have the 
candidate do so, of the things she has done to fulfill her re¬ 
quirement. The Guardian might even have other girls in the 
circle rise and tell of things the candidate has accomplished. 


The Council Fire 


93 


Sometimes an interested person is invited to the Council Fire to 
give a short talk on leadership. Many groups have adopted 
the custom of giving the Torch Bearers a candle stick at the 
time they are installed. If candle sticks are given in this way, 
they should be of simple lines, and if possible made by the girls. 

When this is done, the Guardian lights the candle in the fire 
or passes it through the three candles, saying, “I light this taper 

in the flames of Work, Health, and Love, and I pass it to . 

Let it be her torch to carry the light and spirit of Camp Fire 
wherever she may be.” 

The candidate accepts it and holds it high in her right hand 
as she repeats the Torch Bearer’s Desire. 

Gown Ceremony 

No girl may wear the gown until she is ready to become a 
Wood Gatherer. This ceremony may be used when initiating a 
Wood Gatherer, or at such time afterwards when the girl has 
procured her gown. 

Two Wood Gatherers are chosen to bring forward the can¬ 
didate. The Guardian has given them the gown, and they take 
the candidate outside the circle, and quickly and quietly help 
her put on the gown, and bring her back to the Guardian who 
says: 

“You have donned tonight a new robe,—the mantle of girl¬ 
hood and womanhood. Priceless is it in fabric; it is woven 
of the golden threads of your dreams, your desires, and your 
ideals. Wear this gown with dignity and honor; embellish it 
with your achievements; and adorn it with your deeds of kind¬ 
ness and service. So when the time comes for you to lay it 
aside, you will find concealed beneath it a mantle of character 
which no winds can tear from you.” 

The Guardian may here give a short talk in the meaning of 
the gown, after which the girl returns to her place in the circle. 

Ceremony to be Used on Patriotic Holidays 

Six girls bearing lighted candles to which long threads of 
blue and gold symbolic of eternity and happiness are attached 
Step forward in turn into the centre of the circle, and hold their 



94 


Handbook for Guardians 

candles above their heads. They say respectively, “I bring the 
light of ‘Europe,’ ‘Asia,’ ‘Africa,’ ‘America,’ ‘Australia,’ ‘the 
Islands of the Sea.’” Then slowly kneeling, the candles are 
placed close together and held firmly by one, the others sup¬ 
porting her hand. Six other girls holding the threads in their 
right hands slowly rotate round the candles in the same manner 
as the Maypole single plait—(even numbers moving clockwise, 
odd numbers anti-clockwise, passing under and over the threads 
alternately) while those in the centre sing the following to the 
tune of “Integer Vitae.” 

Europe 

Forth from the sister lands of high endeavor 
Bear we the torch that down the age-long way 
Kindled the fires of glorious thought forever, 

Red, still, it flares today. 

Asia 

Lifting aside the veil of mystic ages, 

Radiant with consciousness of perfect sight 
Hither we bring the lore of time-taught ages 
Gleams of Eternal Light. 

Africa 

Comrades, we come though varied our peoples 
See our strong arms from bonds and shackles free, 
Bearing instead, rich gifts from God’s own garden, 
Yieldings from mine and tree. 

America 

Kinsmen of every race ’neath God’s blue heaven 
Made so by virtue of an open land 
We give not only wealth of fairest produce 
But a true sister’s hand. 

Australia 

Over vast seas we bring our contributions 
Strength, splendid toil, a spirit dauntless, free 
Purpose of justice, steadfast resolution 
Love of true Liberty. 


The Council Fire 


95 


Islands of the Sea 

Bring we our loves, born strong in wind-swept spaces, 
Shrined in the ocean’s sanctuary of blue, 

Bring we sweet trophies, culled from sun-kissed places 
Breath of rich spices too. 

All 

Hear our glad anthem, gracious world mother, 

See now the love-cord woven in thy name 
Tissues of gold each binding to the other 
In love always the same. 

The Guardian says, “On this day, sacred to the memory of 
peace, may the world be re-united by the bond of happiness 
unto eternity.” 

Grand Council Fire 

The Grand Council Fire is a ceremonial meeting in which 
Camp Fire Groups take part. It may include all the Camp Fire 
Groups of one locality or of a Guardians’ Association. Each 
Camp Fire Group is a unit of the Grand Council Fire just as 
each girl is a unit in the Camp Fire Group of which she is a 
member. Therefore instead of answering to th£ roll call indi¬ 
vidually, each group responds as a unit. 

A Grand Council should be an impressive ceremony; it is 
not primarily for outsiders, but it serves as a beautiful way of 
presenting Camp Fire to the public when outsiders are invited; 
a fee may be charged which the Guardians’ Association could 
use for the promotion of Camp Fire activities. Grand Councils 
should not be held too often. If this is done, it takes away from 
the dignity and impressiveness of the individual group, as well 
as from the Grand Council Fire. 

The purpose of the Grand Council Fire is the inspiration that 
comes from bringing groups together for the exchange of ideas. 
It helps to unify the work, and to make the members of indivi¬ 
dual groups realize more fully that each unit is an important 
factor in carrying on the same ideals for which Camp Fire 
stands as a whole. It is inspiring to see two or three hundred 


96 


Handbook for Guardians 


girls, uniformly dressed, but each gown expressing individual 
thought. Such a gathering helps toward that feeling of democ¬ 
racy which is necessary for Community work of any kind. 

There is no reason for making the program for a Grand 
Council Fire so very different from the group Council Fire. 
Certain things should be kept in mind, however, when planning 
the program: 

1. The program should not be too long. Be prepared to cut 
out some things io.order that the program will not last over an 
hour. 

2. Remember that because of the large number taking part, 
the Council Fire must be more of a spectacle than an intimate 
meeting. Do not, therefore, have girls do any speaking, unless 
girls are selected who have clear, carrying voices. 

3. Do not include the award of honor beads at a Grand 
Council Fire. It is not the place for it. National Honors, 
however, may be awarded at a Grand Council Fire. 

4. Ranks may be conferred, but if there are many candidates 
for each rank, there cannot be individual ceremony for the con¬ 
ferring of the rank. 

5. Begin on time, even if the girls are not ready. Next time 
they will be ready. 

6. If guests are present, be sure that the leader of the Coun¬ 
cil Fire explains the purpose of the Council Fire, how it is only 
a small part of the Camp Fire program of activities. Also have 
some one, the leader or one of the girls, explain the significance 
of the Camp Fire gown, and also just what the important points 
in the Camp Fire program are. Remember that your audience 
does not know Camp Fire and you and your girls must explain 
it so that no one will go away not understanding the purpose 
and aims. A pantomime of the seven points of the Law, for 
instance, will not make a clear impression of the scope of Camp 
Fire. 

7. See that the girls keep silent, and do not appear before the 
formal entrance. 

8. If the Grand Council is to be large, and is to be held in a 
large hall, use more than three candles. Some times three 
groups of seven candles each have been used effectively. Use 


The Council Fire 97 

large church candles if possible. Do not have the hall lighted 
brightly. 

When held out of doors, three fires are sometimes used, the 
activities taking place in the space between the three fires. 

9. Always have materials at hand for extinguishing candles 
or fire quickly. Be prepared for fire accidents. 

10. Do not attempt to have all the girls in a Grand Council 
Fire do motions when singing the Camp Fire songs, for unless 
all the groups have been trained by the same person and have 
rehearsed together there will be enough variations to spoil the 
effect. 

Insist that the Camp Fire songs be sung in parts. 



A group of Camp Fire Girls using the Manual Training Work 
Shop of their school to make toys to distribute to poor 
children at Christmas 










CHAPTER VI 

GROUP RECORDS, COUNT BOOKS 

Guardians’ Records 

Records are of vital importance to a Guardian who success¬ 
fully carries on the work of her group. Instead of being the 
dry, dusty, dead thing we sometimes think of as records, they 
are full of the sort of live, up-to-the-moment information 
which is of help to the Guardian in planning the month to 
month and year to year work of her group. They should be 
concisely and efficiently kept so that the information is at all 
times available. 

From the experience of various Guardians who have found 
the sort of records they kept especially helpful to them, we offer 
the following suggestions. The most satisfactory way is to keep 
an individual record of each girl in her group, using for this 
purpose a looseleaf note book, or a card file. This record is 
for the private use of the Guardian, and since it is confidential, 
should be kept at home. The information to be noted in regard 
to each girl would fall under three headings, personal data, 
Camp Fire record, and Guardian’s observations. 

Under personal data would be recorded the girl’s name, ad¬ 
dress and telephone number, the names of her parents, her 
father’s business, and her mother’s particular interest, and 
notes about her brothers and sisters and her home environ¬ 
ment. It also includes the age of the girl, her year and gen¬ 
eral standing in school, her chief interest in school, her outside 
of school activities, such as music, clubs, etc., her church affilia- 

98 





99 


Group Records 

tions, and her ambition in life. The Guardian does not put the 
girl through a cross examination to obtain all this informa¬ 
tion when she first joins the Camp Fire group. The name, ad¬ 
dress, telephone number and age are enough to start with. 
The rest is added as the Guardian becomes better acquainted 
with the girl. 

A complete record of the girl’s work in Camp Fire is also 
kept by the Guardian. This would include her Camp Fire 
name and symbol, the date of ranks attained, special honors 
awarded and a summary of the honors as she wins them. This 
helps the Guardian to ascertain whether or not the girl is 
concentrating on one thing, which she does rather easily instead 
of branching out and winning honors that are more difficult 
for her. It is also wise to keep a record of the service each 
girl gives, so that the willing ones will not be called on over 
and over again while the more indifferent girls are overlooked. 
To keep a record of committees is a good idea, so that the 
same girls will not serve in the same capacity over and over 
again. A record of handcraft is also useful. It will help the 
Guardian in following up the work to see whether the girl 
finishes what she starts, or starts several projects without finish¬ 
ing them, and whether or not she is devoting herself exclusively 
to one type of work. 

The observations which a Guardian records are of special 
help to her in planning her work. For instance, if she finds 
that one girl who seems dependable, does not keep her promises, 
or at the last moment, becomes panic stricken, it is well to make 
a note of the fact both in order to avoid a possible embarrassing 
situation and to help the girl to correct this fault. The reactions 
of the individual girl upon various occasions are sometimes 
worth noting. Did she enjoy the hike, or was she uncoopera¬ 
tive? Did the beauty of the sunset thrill her or was she indif¬ 
ferent? All these little observations will help the Guardian in 
planning the group activities and fitting each girl into her 
program. 

Besides the individual girl record, the Guardian keeps in 
her notebook her program outline. This is particularly im¬ 
portant in order to avoid duplication of work and to assure a 


100 


Handbook for Guardians 


well balanced program. She will also keep other useful notes, 
jotting down an idea to be carried out later, a suggestion from 
another Camp Fire, references to things she has read in books, 
magazine articles or The Guardian, to which she feels she 
will want to refer in the future. 

If well organized and alphabetically arranged such records 
will prove invaluable to the Guardian. 

Treasurer’s Accounts 

These should be kept by a girl elected as Treasurer. 
Whether she is taking the business course at school or not, she 
should have the advice and cooperation of the head of the 
Business Department, or of a bank or accountant. The accounts 
should be kept in a strictly businesslike way. Money of the 
Camp Fire should be banked and drawn out by check, signed 
of course by the Guardian. There is no girl who will not need 
to know how to handle her own bank account and this training 
in Camp Fire will be a great help to her. 

It is never amiss to mention again something we all take for 
granted. Checks should be signed with the name, or initials 
and surname, for instance, “May L. Hampton,” but never “Mrs. 
H. H. Hampton,” Miss, Mrs. and Mr. are not part of a per¬ 
son’s signature and have no place on a check. 

It is also well to make the girls who serve as Treasurers 
realize that they must keep an accurate record on the stubs of 
their check books of the amount withdrawn and the balance in 
the bank. This is the only way to avoid the possibility of com¬ 
mitting that crime against one’s credit—the overdraft. And yet 
checks have come to National Headquarters from people who 
would resent strenuously having their integrity questioned, and 
when these checks were sent through for cashing, they have 
come back marked “No Funds.” It is dishonest to be careless 
in business matters, and it costs the careless person the addi¬ 
tional sum of the bank’s protest fee. 

Count Books 

The Count Book of the whole Camp Fire Group should be 
kept by each girl in turn, but a plan should be worked out 


101 


Group Records 

which each one should follow so that the Count as a whole will 
have unity and beauty. For instance, a binder could be de¬ 
signed and made by one or more of the girls, the same paper 
used throughout the book and the same sort of typing, or ink 
for writing. One girl who makes clever littler drawings might 
be responsible for decorating the pages, and another might 
color in ornamental initial letters. 

Snapshots, programs, and newspaper clippings of Camp Fire 
events add to the value of the book as a history of the group. 
Local Camp Fire songs and poems have their place in it, and a 
camping trip, or special hike or entertainment might be written 
up in detail. Some of the Count Books at National Headquaters 
are not only comprehensive records of the group but are truly 
works of art, beautiful to handle, and of absorbing interest. 

A very attractive Count Book is sold by the Camp Fire Out¬ 
fitting Company, but its use is not compulsory. Originality of 
design is encouraged and no one type is recommended by Na¬ 
tional Headquarters. 

The girls often want to keep individual Count Books and 
should be encouraged to make these beautifully expressive of 
their own personalities. The old type of “Memory Book” with 
its paper napkins, bits of wedding cake, conglomerations of 
favors, and keepsakes, belongs with the what-nots of the past. 
Instead girls are keeping record books, beautiful in their sim¬ 
plicity of decoration and for their unity of content. Besides the 
books in which they keep their Camp Fire record in more or 
less autobiographical form, girls are making count books which 
are expressive of some particular interest in their lives. 

A beautiful record book of butterflies was made by one 
girl. The book was bound in leather, and decorated by the 
Camp Fire Girl. It contained butterflies carefully mounted on 
cotton wool and covered with oil paper. Each butterfly was 
correctly tabulated and described. 

Various hike books have been received at Headquarters con¬ 
taining amusing descriptions, songs, and photographs, the paper 
being decorated with original drawings. Very artistic books 
are made of ordinary brown paper. 

An interesting book made of black art paper with a rough tan 



Water sports are an important feature of every Camp Fire 
Girls’ Camp 


102 Handbook for Guardians 


cover contained photographs of trees in winter taken by a 
Camp Fire Girl. Each tree was named and described and the 
pages artistically decorated. 

In a flower book was a collection of all the wild flowers seen 
during the summer. Each one was drawn and painted and 
described. The pages were bound together in a decorated 
cover, making a very attractive flower count book. 

A beauty book contained a collection of photographs and de¬ 
scriptions of a great variety of subjects which appealed to the 
girl who made it, from a tree in blossom to a bird taking a 
bath. 

These few suggestions will show that there is no limit to the 
kind of record book that girls can make, the main points to note 
are, first of all, to record only things worth recording, to strive 
to make the books as artistic as possible, to use art paper, neat 
printing or typewriting, and the results will be interesting to 
everyone. 




CHAPTER VII 
CAMPING 

The summer camp is no longer considered merely a recrea¬ 
tion center to which girls and boys in all parts of this country 
may go for a pleasant outing. It is recognized to be the 
complement of the school in education. It is an isolated 
community, overflowing with “the irresistible magic of atmos¬ 
phere,” and providing in full measure opportunities for the 
development of good judgment and competent execution, for 
character building, for cooperative living together and training 
for citizenship, for self-expression, and for socialization in a 
strictly democratic sense. 

No Camp Fire Program is Well 
Balanced Without Camping 

Our Annual Report for 1923 stated that eighty per cent of 
the Camp Fire Girls went camping, which means, in round 
numbers, that 125,000 girls enjoyed some form of camping, for 
varying lengths of time, in organized Camp Fire Camps, or in 
small groups under the leadership of Guardians or mothers. 
Each Camp Fire Girl is supposed to go camping for at least a 
week each year, and to that end, each Guardian definitely 


103 





















104 


Handbook for Guardians 


states in her application whether or not she can go camping 
with her girls for a week or more. Camping is insisted upon 
as a part of the health program, and from available statistics 
it would seem a certain fact that the Camp Fire Girls send 
camping each year more girls than any other organization or 
even more than the campers at the combined private summer 
camps. 

In order to be worthy of this tremendous opportunity, and 
in order to give to this vast number of girls under our care the 
maximum amount of fun and of physical, moral, mental and 
social benefit which is their due, we must realize that there 
are certain common requirements to which we must measure 
up, and that there are ideals common to all degrees of organized 
camping which we should maintain. The attainment of these 
standards is decidedly not dependent on the size of the camp 
fee. They can be achieved as readily on seven dollars a week 
per girl as they can on forty-seven. The way in which a camp 
is conducted is but a reflection of the knowledge, the person¬ 
ality, the ideals, and the educational aims of the director, or of 
the Camp Committee or Council which is backing her up. The 
unusually high rating of Camp Fire camps among the organiza¬ 
tion camps is in a large part due to the intelligence and unselfish 
devotion of their leaders, and it will be to the broadened 
knowledge of the theory and practice of camping on the part 
of these leaders and their helpers that the attainment of higher 
standards and ideals in Camp Fire will be due. 

It is not the purpose of this comparatively short chapter to 
cover in detail the organization and running of a Camp Fire 
camp, but the writer will merely try to point out the more 
important aspects of the numerous questions which must be 
intelligently answered by any person who takes girls camp¬ 
ing, to point out the dangers which may be encountered, and 
to tell how others have met and conquered them. The clas¬ 
sified and brief bibliography which follows will give the leader 
interested in that particular phase of the work an opportunity 
to obtain the details from an expert, and at the least price 
possible. The subject has been divided up for the sake of the 
readers, and the bibliography will follow the same divisions 
as directly as possible. The greater part of the chapter will 


105 


Camping 

treat of the camp which takes care of from fifty to a thousand 
girls a summer, but many of the ideas suggested for the use 
of such a camp will prove to be practical for the group camp, 
which will be given a section of its own. 

The Camp Committee 

It is to be urged that each Camp Fire camp, of whatever 
size, should have the backing of several responsible people of 
the Community, for no leader should take upon herself the 
responsibility of taking a group of girls to camp unless she 
has previously secured the assistance in planning of the 
mothers of the girls, at least. This committee may be locally 
formed, where there is no Council, for the sole purpose of 
seeing to the camping activities of a group or of several 
groups, or it may be one of the Council committees, or the 
Council itself acting as such a committee. The committee 
might well consist of several parents who are actively inter¬ 
ested, people with educational experience, a doctor or nurse, 
persons interested in the different crafts, a practical business 
man, and people with practical camp experience. Each person 
could bring the wealth of her knowledge to the project, assume 
certain definite duties in the organization of the camp, if it is 
new, and give very material assistance to the leader or camp 
director, and so vitally contribute to the girls of the community. 
No camp project should be too small to warrant the organiza¬ 
tion of such a committee, and no leader should be obliged to 
assume the responsibility of taking care of girls for any length 
of time without the backing of such a group of citizens. 

Camp Site 

The choosing of the camp site is the first, and perhaps the 
most important consideration, for on such choosing will depend 
the success of the camp for all time to come. The final consid¬ 
eration should be the desirability of the site from the point of 
view of sanitation, which includes the factors of shelter from 
the weather, its altitude and temperature and humidity, drain¬ 
age, water supply for drinking and washing purposes, swim¬ 
ming facilities, and nearness to help in emergency cases. Con- 


106 


Handbook for Guardians 


venience of transportation and picturesqueness of view should 
be subordinated to these, although of course an ideal camp 
site will include them all. 

The site should be protected from extremes of weather, and 
should not be exposed to storms or fogs without sheltering 
trees or other natural protections. Too much shade tends to 
delay drying of tents and clothes after rain, and increases the 
risk of colds and other infections. Too little shade, on the 
other hand, tends to enervate the campers and adds the danger 
of sunstroke and heat exhaustion. 

High, dry ground is the most desirable place for the site 
from the point of view of drainage. A natural slope easily 
takes care of the rain water. Dry, firm soil is the best, for it 
does not turn to mud in wet weather, or to bothersome dust in 
excessively dry weather. The same rules should be followed 
for temporary over-night quarters. 

Army sanitary experts have calculated that every person in 
camp needs a gallon of sterile water a day for drinking and 
cooking purposes only. An abundant supply of pure drinking 
water is an absolute necessity for any camp. The usual sources 
of the supply are springs, wells, brooks or lakes, and the gen¬ 
eral opinion of experts seems to be that their desirability is in 
the order named. Some camps may be fortunate enough to 
control the watershed, other camps will probably use wells or 
springs. In any case, the water should be analyzed by the 
State Board of Health, and in case of the possibility of con¬ 
tamination after the examination, it should be analyzed period¬ 
ically. If an ordinary well, or an artesian well, has to be dug, 
a sanitary engineer should be consulted, and every precaution 
taken against drawing foul drainage. If, when all these pre¬ 
cautions are taken, there still remains some uncertainty, the 
water should be sterilized, either by boiling or by chemical 
means. After the supply is pronounced safe, arrangements 
should be made whereby the supply shall be kept safe, and no 
used utensils or other contaminating articles immersed in the 
water. Trips sent out into strange country should be particu¬ 
larly careful about their drinking water and about swimming. 
As certain impurities may be ignored for washing purposes, 
lake or river water may be used. The look of water must not 


Camping 107 

mislead campers. Clear, cool water may contain typhoid 
germs, while brownish water with suspended particles may be 
sterile. A laboratory analysis is the only sure test. 

The facilities for swimming are most important, for camp 
people are agreed that every girl who goes to camp should 
learn how to swim. Camps which have the natural advantages 
of a lake with a good beach and a sandy bottom are to be 
congratulated. Their problems are solved. Others are not so 
fortunate, and have to swim in rivers or made pools. A river 
is usually safe for swimming, but the director must be on her 
guard in a small pond or artificial pool against the water be¬ 
coming tainted with various bacteria. An epidemic of ear 
trouble, or the inflaming or infection of cuts or scratches, is an 
indication that something is the matter with the bathing place. 
This means that the place must be made safe by the use of 
chloride of lime. 

The bottom of the swimming place should be carefully inves¬ 
tigated for treacherous weeds or holes. Provision must be made 
for those who are just learning, and also for those who dive. 
The nearness of the bathing place to the place of dressing and 
undressing is also important. Excessive growth of algae or 
scum can be controlled also. Muddy bottoms can be improved 
by deposits of sand. 

Certain accident and health hazards should also be consid¬ 
ered in choosing the camp site. A survey of every site should 
be made to insure the absence of quick sands, steep cliffs, old 
mining or quarry shafts, poisonous reptiles, high power trans¬ 
mission lines, wild animals and cattle, standing dead trees, 
broken glass, old tin cans and nails, etc. Mosquito-breeding 
swamps or stagnant water are menaces. Rag weed, golden 
rod, poison ivy, oak and sumach are also hazards to some. 

A camp must have a quick means of communication, so that 
in case of an accident a doctor can be summoned, or a girl 
taken to a hospital without delay. Arrangements with the 
nearest hospital and emergency arrangements should always 
be made before camp starts, and the nearest dentist, surgeon, 
X-ray and doctor previously located. Facility of transportation 
for both campers and supplies is an important consideration, 
and ofteq special arrangements can be made locally. If it is 


/ 


108 


Handbook for Guardians 


humanly possible, the site should be away from the roads and 
other camps, from tourist camps, tea-houses, and from all out¬ 
side distractions. Automobile roads increase the accident haz¬ 
ard, and intercourse with people outside camp makes for lack 
of discipline and decreases camp interest and spirit. The site 
should also provide for the many trips, hikes and exploration 
parties which will go out from camp into the surrounding 
country, and the vicinity should be carefully investigated and 
arrangements made where necessary for supplies, use of land, 
swimming places, etc. 

Every camp has to face the problems of visitors, and for the 
most part it must be met by setting aside a day a week or a 
day a session for visitors, and allowing no visitors at any other 
time, except by written invitation from the director. Where 
the camping period is so short, interruptions are very costly 
to the girls themselves, and interfere with the carrying out of 
the camp schedule. Parents, if told this fact tactfully, will be 
glad to conform to the regulations. A site located at some 
distance from town will also help regulate this problem. 


Sanitation 

The camp director must solve the problem of disposal of 
kitchen and human waste. Serious trouble may be the result 
of the least negligence. The first, problem may be solved by 
the use of an incinerator or by burying. The latter method 
calls for adequate protection against contamination of the 
water supply, both drinking and swimming, and either method 
calls for measures which will prevent the breeding or feeding 
of flies. Keeping garbage in covered cans, in a shady spot, is 
a necessity, and it should be disposed of as speedily as possible. 

The most important factor in camp sanitation is the disposal 
of human waste. There are many possible varieties of toilet 
and latrine equipments, running from the most primitive to 
the flush toilets of our larger camps. The type needed will 
depend on the size of the camp, and on the water supply, if 
running water is to be considered. 1 If a flush system is to be 
installed, engage the best plumber in town; the same applies 
to the installation of a septic tank. A plumber on the camp 


109 


Camping 

committee might be a decided asset at this time. The most 
common method in smaller camps is the latrine equipment, 
consisting of a pit dug in the earth with some kind of seating 
arrangement, and a sanitary protection. Such an arrangement 
necessitates wise supervision, as also does the chemical latrine. 
On camping trips the open pit arrangement is often used. 

Whatever the scheme used, the four following principles 
recommended by the Boy Scouts must be observed: 

1. Protection against contamination of the water supply 

from the sewage. 

2. Arrangements so as to make it impossible for flies to 

get at the waste. 

3. Adequate accommodations for the camp. 

4. Clean and odorless equipment. 

This is the one part of camp where comfort and health 
should be the first consideration. Disease transfer can be pre¬ 
vented, and the standards and health of the girls improved. 
Convenient situation is an important item in the sanitation 
equipment, and the arrangement should be well ventilated and 
comfortable. 

Equipment 

Equipment of a camp should be as simple as is necessary 
properly to take care of the campers. Tents, with board or 
cement floors, and flies, and the different types of bungalow 
or kiosk, are the most popular types of sleeping accommoda¬ 
tions. It is the general opinion that in the long run, tents are 
more expensive. Eating quarters, assembly room, library ar¬ 
rangement, store, craft house, infirmary, etc., should be planned 
definitely in relation to a general scheme or plan of camp. A 
suitable place should be provided in every camp, no matter 
how small, for the isolation of any camper who may be sus¬ 
pected of having an infectious disease, and the nurse should 
have special quarters and certain office hours every day. 

The army barracks standard of forty square feet per person 
should be considered a minimum standard for camp sleeping 
quarters. Double deck cots give economy of space, but some- 


no 


Handbook for Guardians 


times at the expense of comfort and hygiene. The sleeping ac¬ 
commodations should assure the camper of protection in all kinds 
of weather, of dry beds and clothing, and of good ventilation at 
night. 

Equipment such as beds, mattresses, kitchen and dining-room 
supplies may often be priced locally, and lists may always be 
procured from Headquarters. Directors find that it pays in the 
end to buy the best kind of oars, paddles, archery equipment, 
athletic equipment of all kinds, and in general all sorts of camp 
supplies which will find hard use at the hands of eager campers. 
It is often a good plan to look ahead and plan for equipment 
which the girls can themselves add by making them, such as 
bird baths, bird houses, archery stands, log cabins, bridges, 
fireplaces, etc. 

Food and Commissary 

Camp commissary is a vital matter, and the happiness and 
health of the camper, in her eyes particularly the former, de¬ 
pend in a great measure on how the camp cooking and eating is 
managed. Food materials must be of good quality, and the best 
way to be sure of that is to buy only from reputable dealers. 
Lists and prices from various dealers should be obtained before 
camp opens, and all arrangements for ordering and transpor¬ 
tation made. Staple goods can be bought cheaper in large 
amounts or sometimes for wholesale prices. Bread, fresh vege¬ 
tables, and meat, and milk should be bought as needed. 

Strict cleanliness in handling and preparation should be in¬ 
sisted upon, and all perishable foodstuffs should be kept cool, 
and free from dust and contamination. Ample refrigerating 
arrangements should be made for meat, milk, butter, etc. Suit¬ 
able refrigerators for camp use are on the market, or an effi¬ 
cient one can be made at camp. Food which has been improperly 
kept or handled may lead to ptomaine poisoning, as may also 
improperly canned foods. Every director should be very cer¬ 
tain of the sanitary source of the camp milk supply. 

If the food is not handled properly in the kitchen all these 
precautions will be in vain. The cook should be selected wisely. 
Besides being a good cook, he or she should be of good moral 


Ill 


Camping 


character and free from communicable disease. Girls on K.P. 
duty should realize the responsibility of their job and do their 
work well. The washing of dishes should be done hygienically, 
and so far as is possible the camp schedule should not be upset 
or retarded because such duties are assigned to the campers. 
“Systems” of K.P. duty can be best worked out in each camp, 
often by the girls themselves. 

The planning of the camp menus should mean a balanced 
ration for each person in camp. The three types of food, pro¬ 
teins, carbohydrates and fats, together with water, constitute the 
bulk of the food needed by the human body. The menus 
should be so planned as to give sufficient nourishment to the 
hungry camper, and at the same time to free him of digestive 
troubles. This planning should not be a haphazard affair, but 
should be done scientifically. An excess of sweets is danger¬ 
ous, as is also the continued eating of too highly refined foods. 
Information on the preparation of balanced menus may be pro¬ 
cured from any good book on cooking, from various govern¬ 
ment sources, from private concerns, from school and college 
extension bulletins, and in the Army Cook’s Manual . 

Suggestions for One Week of Balanced Menus: 


Monday 

Breakfast 

Stewed figs 
Corn flakes 
Toast and butter 
Cocoa or milk 

Dinner 

Creamed beef 
Baked, potatoes 
Wheat bread and butter 
Rice pudding with raisins 

Supper 

Corn chowder 
Toasted crackers 
Chocolate tapioca cream 

Tuesday 

Breakfast 

Stewed dried peaches 
Oatmeal 

Bran muffins, hot 
Cocoa or milk 


Dinner 

Peanut loaf with tomato sauce 
Green peas 
Fruit cup 
Cookies 

Supper 

Vegetable salad 
Wheat bread and butter 
Berries and cream 


Wednesday 

Breakfast 

Prunes 

Cream of wheat 
Scrambled eggs, toast 
Cocoa or milk 

Dinner 

Baked beans 
Brown bread and butter 
Fresh tomatoes 
Canned pineapple 


112 Handbook for Guardians 


Supper 

Fruit salad 

Bran bread and butter 
Crackers and marmalade 

Thursday 

Breakfast 

Stewed rhubarb 
Puffed rice 

Corn muffins and jam 
Cocoa or milk 

Dinner 

Lamb and vegetable stew 
Lettuce salad 
Wheat bread and butter 
Berry shortcake 

Supper 

Macaroni and cheese 

Prune whip 

Milk 

Friday 

Breakfast 

Grape fruit or orange 
Wheatena 
Bacon and toast 
Cocoa or milk 

Dinner 

Scalloped fish, baked potato, 
carrots 

Wheat bread and butter 
Indian pudding 

Supper 

Cottage cheese salad 

Hot bran biscuits and jam 

Cocoa 


Saturday 

Breakfast 

Stewed apricots 
Corn meal mush 
Toast and butter 
Cocoa or milk 

Dinner 

Hamburg steak loaf and 
mashed potatoes 
Stewed tomatoes 
Chocolate bread pudding 

Supper 

Potato and egg salad 
Bran bread and butter 
Olives 

Crackers and jam 

Sunday 

Breakfast 

Oranges 

Corn flakes and cream 
Poached eggs 
Toast and butter 
Cocoa or milk 

Dinner 

Friccaseed chicken 
Mashed potatoes 
String beans 
Gravy 

Ice cream with chocolate sauce 

Supper 

Cheese souffle and jelly 
Wheat bread and butter 
Berries and cream 


The candy question in camp can sometimes be solved by 
having all the candy given directly to the nurse or some other 
councillor who is responsible, and then have the children own¬ 
ing the candy give it out after supper to the campers as they 


113 


Camping 

come out of the mess hall. This also adds to the dessert. 
Parents should not be allowed to send cakes, pastries, etc., to 
camp, and fruit only when there is a sufficient amount to go 
the camp rounds. Candy or food should not be eaten between 
meals. Suitable arrangements should also be made for feeding 
the girls who are underweight milk two or three times between 
breakfast and bedtime. This can best be handled by the nurse. 

Health Standards 

The care of the health of the campers is one of the greatest 
cares and responsibilities of the guardian or camp director. No 
child should return home the worse for her camp experience. 
In order to give each camper under her care the best possible 
attention, the director should have correct information in re¬ 
gard to the previous health record of each girl, and every 
councillor or leader who has the children directly under her 
supervision at any time of the camp session should also be 
cognizant of the health needs of each girl. This information 
should be distributed at the beginning of each session in a 
meeting of councillors, nurse and director, and reports should 
be made from time to time at other such meetings. 

This information can best be obtained by the filling out of a 
health certificate, which should be very strict, and accurately 
filled out. In order to have accurate and standard findings, 
wherever possible it is most advisable to have one or two doc¬ 
tors give all of the examinations. The tendency for the family 
physician to fill out the card in a more or less nonchalant 
fashion for the convenience of the camper and her family is a 
very real one. The director, in justice to her own reputation 
as well as to the reputation of the camp, and in justice to the 
other campers, must have the facts, and the committee or coun¬ 
cil should see to it that she gets them. Otherwise, no leader 
should assume the responsibility for the care of campers no 
matter how small the camp, or even if the camp period is but 
a week. 

In the two week camp, where opportunity for camp examina¬ 
tion is more or less limited on account of lack of time, the town 
examination should be even more thorough. The examinations 


114 


Handbook for Guardians 


may vary slightly, but the minimum essentials should cover the 
following points: 

1. Heart 

2. Lungs 

3. Kidneys 

4. Eye, ear, nose, or throat troubles 

5. Skin eruption 

6. Exposure to no contagious disease three weeks before 

coming to camp. (To be filled out the day before 

coming to camp.) 

7. Vaccination or innoculation 

8. Whether or not the girl has matured, and if so date of 

next menstruation and probable duration. 

9. Whether or not she should take part in all camp ac¬ 

tivities. If not, to what extent she should take part. 

To this may be added an examination of the spine, a report 
of an examination of the urine, an overweight or underweight 
report, and a statement as to the condition of the arches, which 
is an important consideration in hiking. 

Perhaps the most important of these requirements from the 
point of view of the other campers, is that the applicant shall 
not have been exposed in the slightest degree to any one of the 
contagious or communicable diseases. The second is that the 
patient’s body should be examined very carefully to note the 
presence or absence of any skin eruption. Unfortunately, there 
seems to be a sense of shame attached to having a skin eruption 
and many people will conceal it even from their physician. 
There are several types of eruption which spread very quickly 
through a two weeks’ camp, however, and it should be care¬ 
fully checked up on the certificate. 

When the child arrives at camp, it is often the best plan to 
have the nurse see each child, and at the same time take into 
consideration the certificate which she has in her file. Weigh¬ 
ing and comparison with tables may be done at this time, and 
recommendations for a special diet, such as milk at times dur¬ 
ing the day, may be made. An examination for pediculosis 
should also be made at this time. 


115 


Camping 

All medicine to be taken during the camping session should 
be turned over to the nurse. At different intervals of the camp 
session, health talks can be given, tying up health especially to 
camp activities. 

It has been found by some camps a good idea to require in 
the winning of certain camp awards the keeping of a hygiene 
card, which would include some of the more important points 
set forth in the Camp Fire Girls Health Chart. In fact, camp 
should be the place for every girl to begin to keep the chart, 
if she has not previously begun to. This card or the chart 
itself could be kept near her bed, and the results handed in 
weekly for checking up. 

Posture should be emphasized at camp, especially at table, 
and leaders should, of course, set a good example. Conscien¬ 
tious attempts to improve posture might be rewarded in some 
way, and records kept from year to year showing the improve¬ 
ment of the girl from her first session at camp. Home co¬ 
operation might be enlisted, as well as group interest during the 
winter. Numerous pictures of camping activities show bad 
posture during craft work, in games and athletic activities, and 
an impetus toward correct posture given at camp will be of 
benefit to the girl the rest of her life. 

In the case of a Christian Science camper, it is best to have 
a written statement from the parents of the camper directing 
the camp leader what to do in case of illness, accident, or 
other emergency. If the parent does not wish to have the 
child submit to the examination, it seems only fair that the 
girl should not expect to enter any activity which is more 
strenuous than that indulged in by the average camper. 

The program for each girl should be fitted as much as pos¬ 
sible to her physical capacity, and the too active child should 
not be over-stimulated, nor the inactive child allowed to sit all 
day long in a shady spot. The energetic girl should not be 
allowed to go from one strenuous activity to another, and every 
day some check should be kept on the program which each girl 
follows. 

A committee of doctors and health experts appointed by the 
Camp Directors Association has worked out an excellent set 


116 


Handbook for Guardians 


of health requirements for the directors of private camps to 
use. These requirements necessitate a more thorough examina¬ 
tion at camp than the average two weeks camp will allow, 
but the set is attached and it should prove useful for Camp 
Fire directors in formulating their own requirements. 

Standard Medical Certificate for Use by Members of the 
C. D. A., to be Filled Out by Family Physician 
and Parent 

1. Health record of.Age,.Date. 

2. Health in the past has been good—fair—poor. 

3. Health at present is good—fair—poor. 

4. Has camper ever been subject to fainting spells? 

5. Does camper ever walk in her sleep? 

6. Tendencies to illness.. 

7. Is there any activity from which you wish your daughter 

debarred ? 

Give reason . 

8. Suggestions from parents . 

9. What do you hope that the camp will do for your daughter 

this summer?. 

Signed.Parent 

1. Any known defects in sight or hearing? 

2. What contagious diseases has camper had? 

3. Has camper been ill in any way during past two months? 

4. Menstruation .Duration . 

Any special directions. 

5. Constipation . 

6. Heart . 

7. Nervous system . 

8. Suggestions from Family Physician . 

9. To the best of my knowledge the above named is normal 
except as stated; she is physically able to enter into camp 
activities and she has not been exposed to any contagious 
or infectious disease during the past three weeks. 

Signed.M.D. 




















Camping 


117 


Business and Records 

The books of a camp should be kept in a business-like man¬ 
ner, and so that an intelligent report of camp operations could 
be presented at any time. If possible, money should be handled 
in the town office, especially in the case of larger camps. 
Larger camps should probably use a modified form of double 
entry system, so that balance sheets and profit and loss state¬ 
ments could be more easily prepared, and better check kept 
on the expenditures of different departments. Such business 
details as fire insurance, workmen’s compensation insurance 
(that is insurance to cover possible accident to persons em¬ 
ployed in the camps) taxes, mortgages, etc., should be attended 
to in town and should not be put on the shoulders of the direc¬ 
tor while she is running the camp. The director should O.K. 
all bills and should order all supplies, or at least O.K. orders. 

Smaller camps will probably use the single entry system, or 
some other simple way of keeping track of income and expense. 
In small camps this can be delegated to certain girls who will 
assume the responsibility, under the guidance of the guardian. 

The director will, of course, budget the camp expense, 
especially if the camp is new, and will check up from time to 
time to see if she is keeping the right pace with the budget. 

Each girl should have her own camp card which will tell her 
camp history. This should include the sessions she attends, tests 
passed, honors won, etc. Camp logs, or count books are often 
kept by the camp itself, and are written up by the girls them¬ 
selves. In the larger camps, it may be possible to issue each 
session some sort of a camp paper, which can be gotten up at 
camp in some simple way by the girls. 

The girl’s application card should tell her parent’s home and 
business address, telephone number and other data which would 
prove necessary in the case of emergency. 

The health cards and individual girl’s camp cards should be 
kept by the camp management from year to year, and the latter 
should trace the girl’s progress through camp. 


118 


Handbook for Guardians 


Camp Leadership and Government 

The camp director should have health, a personality to suit 
her job, and a practical knowledge of hygiene, and of the 
different phases of camp activity. She sets the pace for the 
whole camp, and through her dealings with her councillors and 
staff, she should create that camp spirit and atmosphere which 
will go much farther towards making a successful camp than 
expensive equipment. Of course she should believe in girls, 
and believe in camping. If she has not had specific training 
for her job, it is quite possible to get the high spots of camp 
management by reading the best books and articles on the 
subject. In the smaller type of camp, where she is the weakest 
herself, she should surround herself with competent help. Each 
member of the camp staff should be moved by that spirit of ser¬ 
vice which gives the maximum of sympathy and understanding 
to the children in their care which makes each act as the very 
best type of parent would act toward his own child. 

The councillors, both paid and voluntary, should be people who 
are specifically fitted for some definite part of the camp work, 
and who are worthy of being entrusted with children in camp 
or on a hike. At the very beginning of the camp season, 
especially if the leader is to be there for one session only, she 
should acquaint herself with the camp rules and regulations, 
live up to them scrupulously herself, and at all times be loyal 
to the director of the camp and to the camp spirit. By broad 
and open-mindedness, by respect for the personality of each 
other, by tolerance, and by loyalty to the director and each 
other, it is possible to develop such an atmosphere in camp 
that the resultant happiness is felt by the youngest member of 
the group. 

A director must be absolutely sure of a competent, trust¬ 
worthy and well trained swimming instructor. Her job is a 
big one and she must be chosen with care. Local Red Cross 
branches can often help in securing such a person. She should, 
of course, have passed the examiner’s test. Next in importance 
comes the nurse and cook. Nature lore, handcraft, campcraft, 
and singing councillors need to be added to the staff according 
to the size of the camp. Do not understaff your camp, but do 

' / 


Camping 


119 


not add any dead weight to it just for the sake of numbers. A 
councillor to five or six girls should be the minimum require¬ 
ment, and no small group should ever go out without two adult 
leaders. 

As to the organization of the campers themselves, there is 
afforded an opportunity for practical self-government in affairs 
pertaining to the actual conduct and discipline. In the camp 
government each child has a voice and a vote, and as many of 
the problems of daily living and playing together as possible 
should be laid on their shoulders. Care of camp property, rest 
hour, following of boat and canoe regulations, and the thousand 
and one little things which make for a well run camp should be 
accomplished by the cooperative spirit of the girls themselves, 
and not through discipline. This does not intend to imply the 
meaning that there should be no discipline. To the contrary, 
very distinct regulations should be made by the director over 
control of boats, canoes, swimming, eating, reporting illness to 
the nurse, fire building, cutting wood around the camp site, 
attendance at camp meetings, etc. But the point to be made 
is that the girls should realize the importance of these few 
rules for their own comfort and safety, and follow them as a 
matter of course. The regulations should be carefully ex¬ 
plained, however, and all possibility of misunderstanding 
obviated. 

The assistance of girls who are skillful at certain crafts or 
games may be enlisted to help the younger children, but too 
much responsibility should not be given directly to the older 
girls. Committees chosen from among the campers may arrange 
certain special events, with the help of councillors, such as a 
field and swimming meet, special program at the Council Fire, 
a pageant or play or party. 

Camp Activities 

The camp program is that schedule or plan which regulates 
the activities which go on in the camp from day to day. In the 
larger private camps, program planning calls for a person 
trained for the job, as would be a nurse or swimming coun¬ 
cillor. In the two week camp the same schedule can probably 
be followed each session, making allowances for the weather. 


120 


Handbook for Guardians 


The daily schedule and the program for the entire session 
should be considered from the point of view of advantageous 
balance of activity and rest. We must remember that we are 
taking girls from cities who have a difficult adjustment to make 
to their camp surroundings, and we must not rush them off 
their feet at first, but give them time to look around and get 
into the spirit of camp. There is no doubt that in some camps 
the program is too strenuous; in others, not enough activity is 
provided. 

Then, too, it is difficult to organize in such a way as to allow 
for freedom in choice and self direction on the part of the 
camper, and yet give the physically inactive enough bodily 
activity, and keep the over-energetic within reasonable bounds. 
We must not let our camp program be too limiting, nor must 
we let it allow too great freedom and provide no stimulus. 
No doubt all directors and guardians will agree that the ideal 
way is to offer a wide range of choices in activity, and then 
stimulate each camper to select such a program as will nt her 
needs. But in order to do this, the girl must be advanced to 
the point where she realizes what those needs are and really 
wants to make an effort to meet them. This can be done by 
the guardian before the girl comes to camp, or by her coun¬ 
cillor or leader after she gets there. 

But in most Camp Fire Girls camps the need will probably 
be, not to stimulate to more activity than the natural wish of 
the girl will suggest, but to teach relaxation and to provide 
proper rest periods and free time. The person in charge of the 
program should keep an accurate check on what each girl does 
during the day, and see that she does not follow a strenuous 
swimming period by an equally strenuous tennis match or game 
of baseball, but by a craft period or nature lore class. 

In camps where an over-night trip is the crowning event the 
work the girl does in camp should prepare her for the trip, 
both by way of actual knowledge of camp craft and by physical 
endurance, and ability to make the trip. 

The same may be said of program planning as was said of 
the planning of menus, it must not be done in a haphazard 
fashion. All ages in camp should have at least ten hours of 
sleep each night. 

No camp schedule should ever become stereotyped and so set 


Camping 121 

that the same thing must be done every day at the same time. 
Some camps send every child in camp out on a trip one day 
each week, others send girls out in different groups to cook 
supper, or do some work which will help in their craft or 
nature classes. The different things each child is interested in 
at camp should be considered in making out each day’s pro¬ 
gram. For that reason, some campers may be definitely as¬ 
signed on the schedule board for a certain activity which they 
are interested in, and others may be given a choice for that par¬ 
ticular hour. Every camper, of course, should have her swim¬ 
ming hour definitely assigned, and the necessity for the com¬ 
pletion of certain requirements will also probably influence her 
to take craft and nature work at certain definite periods. 

Every camp has worked out a day’s program to suit its own 
needs. The following program may be of use to some, as it is 
flexible, and as it has been made out, taking into consideration 
some of the points of program making mentioned above. 

6:45 Reveille. 

Dip or setting up or both. 

7:30 Breakfast. 

8 :i5 Tent work. 

8 45 Inspection and store open. 

9 :oo Assembly. 


9:15-10 Craft, nature and sports lesson hour, ist half. 


10-10:45 Craft, nature and sports lesson hour, 2nd half. 

10:55 

Posture drill. 


11:15 

First swimming division. 



Correctives for those who need it. 


11 : 35 

Second swimming division. 


11:55 

Third swimming division. 


12 :i 5 

Councillor’s swimming. 


1 :oo 

Dinner. 


2-3 

Rest hour. 


3:10-4:15 Program (sports, campcraft, classes), ist 

half. 

4:15- 

5:30 Program (sports, campcraft, classes), 2nd 

half. 

6 :oo 

Supper. 


7:i5 

Music, games, paddling, parties, shows, etc. 


8 40 

Go to tents. 


9 :oo 

Taps and quiet. 



122 


Handbook for Guardians 


The two lesson hours in the morning are divided intention¬ 
ally, so that a girl may do one strenuous thing, such as tennis 
or rowing, one hour, and then do nature or craft work the 
second. The morning work may be assigned or the definite 
work otherwise understood. The afternoon program is ar¬ 
ranged the same way, but in following this scheme, it is advised 
that the girls be given the choice of the things they wish to do. 
This can best be done by having the girls sign up under the 
name of the councillor who is in charge of that activity, and 
when the numbered places are all taken, that means the group 
is closed. This afternoon session gives an opportunity for the 
older girls to do advanced handcraft work and the younger to 
do elementary work of various sorts. 

At night special groups can do night hiking or star gazing. 
No schedule should be so arranged that it cannot be changed 
about as occasion demands, and as the weather or special cir¬ 
cumstances permit. 

Handcraft 

Handcraft at camp offers opportunities to the girl which she 
cannot get in the city. The girl has the whole outdoors to work 
from and to work in. Why import to camp the handcraft proj¬ 
ects your girls will work on in winter? Why work on sealing 
wax beads, on fancy bags, on too much painting or stenciling 
and designing, all of which can be done in the winter? 

A new idea is finding its way through our Camp Fire camps. 
It is the idea of using materials which may be found on the 
camp site, of actually making articles which can be used at 
camp, of planning to construct on the site shacks or fireplaces, 
or something which may be enjoyed by the other campers. The 
girls themselves will love this sort of camp improvement, for 
it gives them a chance to indulge their impulse for creative 
work, and to make with their hands something which is really 
associated with camp, and not remotely connected with their 
club room in town. 

A few suggestions are given below. Some may not be possible 
in your part of the country, and some you may be astonished to 
find are quite possible, and also quite desirable. 


Camping 


123 


Rustic furniture. 

Bird houses. 

Bird baths. 

Museums or aquariums (the stocking to be done by nature 
classes). 

Fire places. 

Open shacks or shelters. 

Tree houses. 

Boats. 

Bows and arrows. 

Bark cups and baskets. 

Rush mats. 

Bridges. 

Fire sets. 

Paddles and their decoration. 

Rude cooking utensils. 

Sun dials. 

As you can see at a glance, the handcraft would then be tied 
up to a great extent with the nature work, and with the camp 
craft work. Is that not what we are after? Do we not 
want to stimulate in these campers of ours a real love of the 
woods and camp life in general, and not just the knowing of a 
list of ferns or the correct, modelling of a clay bowl or how to 
make a fire with a dozen matches? 

One project, such as the making of a fireplace or a lean-to 
shelter, may take the entire camp a whole summer to finish. 
But think of the pride with which a girl will return to camp the 
following year and point to the fireplace which she helped to 
build with her own hands. And will not the girl who has helped 
to build and erect a bird house take more interest in seeing 
what birds choose to profit by her work than she will in just 
being a member of a class which is trying to make a list of 
birds seen on a certain morning at a certain spot? 

Precaution should of course be taken not to misuse the ma¬ 
terial nature offers us, and before any project is undertaken, 
the director should pass on its advisability and practicability. 
In projects which require physical labor on the part of the 
girls, or accident hazard, the girls should be carefully super- 


124 


Handbook for Guardians 


vised. No mention needs to be made of the ordinary craft 
work which goes on in the summer camp, such as scroll saw 
work, reed and raffia work, pottery, etc. These all have their 
place, but let us see to it that the Camp Fire Girls’ camps lead 
the movement to get our campers away from the idea that 
camp is a glorified summer boarding house, or more or less 
fashionable hotel or bathing resort. 

All handcraft work should be subjected in camp to the same 
high standards of beauty and usefulness to which it is sub¬ 
jected in the winter. A handcraft councillor with the right 
attitude and with the power to inspire the girls to want to do 
this new kind of handcraft can do more to put it over in your 
camp than all the books you can buy on the subject. And, by 
the way, camp directors can help make tree houses and help 
make fireplaces and bridges, too. 

Athletics 

In athletics, too, the tendency nowadays is to get away from 
the sort of thing which can be done in the city in winter, and 
to have less individual competition and more group games and 
stunts. In other words, the tendency is to get away from high- 
jumping, long running, and hurdle races, and other forms of 
athletic activity which should require a long period of carefully 
managed practice, and to substitute for these events and for 
basket-ball, group games, stunts, relays, etc. 

Intelligent and sportsmanlike team competition has a very 
definite place in camp, and this idea recognizes this fact and 
prepares for it. Plans should be made so that each member of 
the camp group is at some time a competitor and not merely a 
shouter on the side lines. Because campers live so closely 
together, it is easier for the campers to get the idea of intense 
opposition without entailing that personal antagonism which is 
sometimes the result of combats between strange teams. The 
higher values of playing the game, the teaching of self-control, 
good sportsmanship under stress of excitement, perseverance, 
tenacity, willingness to lose when fairly beaten, generosity in 
the treatment of an opponent, and the love of the game for the 
playing, not the winning, are all factors in character develop- 


125 


Camping 

ment which can be attained in this one phase of camp activity. 
Play of this sort does not result in mere amusement, it is an 
activity which leads on very definitely to “an enlarged and 
deepened consciousness and increased control of powers of 
action.” 

So much for the theory of athletics in camp. Each director 
must face the situation and decide for herself which sort of 
thing she wishes her camp to stand for. The resolutions 
adopted by the Women’s Division of the National Amateur 
Athletic Federation cover very widely and thoroughly the point 
of view held on this subject by the best women teachers of 
physical education in this country. (See Everygirl’s Magazine 
for April, 1924, and The Guardian .) Camp Fire camps will 
also lead in the movement to get away from too highly organ¬ 
ized and too carelessly run athletic activities in the summer 
camp. 

Every camp at some time or other has a field meet. Direc¬ 
tors may find the following outline for a field meet of help this 
coming summer: 

First, divide the camp into two or four or six groups, accord¬ 
ing to the size of the camp. Divide the campers into groups 
on the basis of ability, some good, some medium, and some poor 
ones in each, so that the combined strength of each group is as 
nearly equal as possible. The next thing to do is to decide on 
the events, and post a list on which the girls may sign up. Two 
contestants from each group in each event is advisable. No girl 
should enter more than two speed events, nor more than three 
altogether. In some events, of course, the entire groups will 
take part. 

Equipment should consist of stop watch, score cards, and 
colors for the contestants. The officials should include a referee 
in full charge, a clerk of course (who should have the names 
of all contestants and numbers if they wear them), starter, 
judges, timers and scorer. A couple of hours is usually plenty 
of time for a program. A field day of this kind seems to divide 
into different types of events, and should include events chosen 
from each section. The following list of events arranged in 
groups may be helpful in planning such a meet. 


126 


Handbook for Guardians 


Track Events: 

1. 50-yard dash. 

2. Relay race 50-yards each run. 

3. Basket-ball throw. 

4. Baseball throw. 

5. Javelin throw. 

6. Archery. 

7. Hurdles: z f -z' 6" high, distance up to 50 yds. which would 

mean three hurdles ten yards apart, and fifteen yards 
allowed at each end. 

8. Baseball throw for target. 

9. Basket ball goal throw. 

Games: 

1, Relays. 

a. Shuttle relay. 

b. Potato relay. 

c. Obstacle relay. 

d. Hopping relay. 

Group Games: 

a. Playground ball. 

b. Volley ball. 

c. Newcomb. 

d. End ball. 

e. Corner ball. 

f. Bat ball. 

g. Drive ball. 

h. Captain ball. 

i. Punch ball. 

j. Long ball. 

k. Cage Volley ball. 

l . Baseball. 

m. Dodge ball. 

n. Alphabet game. Two sides of 26 players, each with a 

letter printed on a card and held to the chest. A word 
is called out in which no letter is repeated. The letters 
have to step forward and arrange themselves in proper 


127 


Camping 

order in front of their line. The side line which 
completes the word first wins. It is best to have both 
lines facing the judges, the beginning of the alphabet 
on the judges’ left, the end to the judges’ right. 

o. Tennis. 

p. Horse-shoe pitching. 

q. Mumbley-peg contest. 

Stunts: 

A great many stunts may be found in Pearl and Brown, 
“Health Stunts,” Macmillan, such as— 

1. Hand wrestle. 

2. Through stick. 

3. Toe jump. 

4. Tumbling and pyramids. 

Miscellaneous and Camp Craft Events: 

1. Fire 6y friction. 

2. Fire race. Stretch a string between two trees so that for 

its entire length it is about 20 inches from the ground. 
At regular intervals under this string each of the com¬ 
petitors selects a fire site, and assembles material for the 
fire. Stacked material must not reach higher than three- 
fourths of distance from ground to string. At the signal 
each girl lights her fire, using not more than two matches. 
The first girl to burn off the string wins. 

3. Water boiling contest. 

4. Wet wood fire contest. 

5. Fry an egg on hot stone. Egg should be fried firmly. 

6. Knot tying contest. 

7. Poncho rolling contest. 

8. Tent pitching contest. 

9. Sign language contest. 

10. Nature games (indentification of specimens, including 
growing trees, flowers and ferns.) 

In field meets five points should be given for first place, three 
for second and one for third, with the exception of mass con¬ 
tests or group games, in which the side winning should receive 
eight points. 


128 Handbook for Guardians 

Athletics in camp should be under the guidance of a person 
trained in physical education. Often the camp program can 
also be handled by this same person. The equipment should 
be as simple as possible, and many times can be constructed or 
kept in condition by the girls themselves. 

Swimming 

Water sports are most important to the life and success of 
the summer camp. Swimming and all activity on or in the 
water should be most carefully supervised, and the person 
delegated with the responsibility should be dependable, steady 
and well trained for her work. If you only can afford one 
expert councillor, make it the swimming councillor, and play 
safe. Good swimming councillors may be obtained from col¬ 
leges, schools, and from Red Cross Life-saving and swimming 
courses. No camp should even dream of getting along without 
a person who had at least passed the Red Cross Life-saving 
tests, and if possible, a first-class examiner should be procured. 
She should know the correct methods of teaching swimming, 
the necessary water front precautions, the hygiene of swim¬ 
ming, and should at all times maintain a discipline which will 
mean prompt obedience to all her commands. 

There were certain Standard Provisions for Safety discussed 
and reapproved at the Fifth Intensive Training Course for 
Swimming Councillors which was held at Camp Quinibeck in 
June, 1923. These standards provide for the safety of from 
thirty girls up to a large number, but the size of the staff would 
of course take care of the increase in the number of campers. 
These standards are the* result of the work of some of the best 
swimming experts in the country, and each director is asked 
to give them careful consideration and adapt them wherever 
possible to her camp. Smaller groups can follow out the gen¬ 
eral idea of protection. No careful camp director should be 
satisfied with any but the best provisions for the safety of her 
campers. 


Camping 


129 


Standard Provisions for Safety Suggested and Discussed 
at Fifth Intensive Training Course for 
Swimming Councillors 

Prevention 

1. Adequate physical and medical examination and super¬ 

vision throughout season. 

2. Absolute and instant response to all commands and rules, 

particularly with regard to: 

(a) False calls for help. 

(b) Going in at other than stipulated swimming periods. 

(Councillors and visitors are subject to same rules 
as campers .) 

3. Organization of swimming staff with definite assignment 

and understanding of duties. 

4. Up to Class A swimmers (Flying Fish) there should not be 

more than six in the water at one time to each swimming 
councillor on duty, total number depending on equipment 
and organization. 

5. Adequate measures to keep track of swimmers, particularly 

when going to and coming from outshore floats. 

6. Swimmers arranged in classes according to swimming con¬ 

ference (in our case, national classification) as far as 
possible. 

7. Responsibility delegated to councillors should be limited 

to those of tested ability. 

8. Boat patrol by one who knows how to handle boat well 

and is in bathing suit in all cases. 

(a) Rowboats advised; canoes undesirable. 

(b) Patrol to give undivided attention to duty. 

(c) No swimmers permitted to hang on boat. 

9. “Look-out” preferably from tower in cases where more 

than 20 to 25 swimmers are in the water at once. 

10. Adequate limitation of numbers on floats. 

Methods of coping vjith emergency vjhen it arises. 

1. “All out” call—leaving swimming councillors free. 

2. Performance of life saving measures by: 
a. Boat patrol or buoy from dock. 


130 Handbook for Guardians 

b. Councillor life saver nearest scene of accident entering 
water to render assistance cooperating with patrol boat. 

3. Resuscitation methods if necessary. 

Recommendations for swimming on trips. 

1. Adequate number of swimming councillors. 

2. Investigation of location—bottom, current, etc. 

3. Careful watching and boat patrol where feasible. 

4. Reasonable limitation of swim according to standard of 

home camp. 

Every camp must have a graded classification of swimming. 
Upon the camper’s place in this classification will depend her 
privilege of going in boats and canoes. It is generally thought 
that no girl should go in a boat without a councillor unless* she 
has passed the highest test, and that no girl should go in a 
canoe until she has passed the Fish Test or its equivalent, and 
that no girl should go alone in a canoe at any time without a 
councillor being near in another canoe or boat. Rowing and 
canoe classifications generally parallel swimming requirements, 
and the two former will depend on the camper’s ability in 
swimming. 

Headquarters is suggesting to each Camp Fire camp direc¬ 
tor or Guardian that she use the following list of suggested 
swimming classifications, and that she also use a set of honors 
which has been made especially to accompany them. Each 
leader can very easily cut a stencil from the printed symbol, 
trace the design and cut out with a sharp knife. This will 
standardize Camp Fire swimming activities, and girls who 
wear the same swimming symbols on their gowns, though they 
come from different parts of the country, will know that they 
have passed exactly the same swimming tests. The classifica¬ 
tion has been passed upon by camp directors who are experts 
in this special line of camp activity, and every camp leader is 
urged to fall in line and use these National Camp Fire Girl 
Swimming Honors. 

The life-saving requirements in the Flying Fish are the Red 
Cross requirements which are outlined in A. R. C. Bulletins 
1002 and 1005. These may be secured at the Headquarters of 
the National Red Cross, Washington, D. C. 


Camping 


131 


Swimming Tests 



Pollywog Test 


1. Duck three times. 

2. Float fifteen seconds. 

3. Swim two strokes any style twenty-five yards each. 



Frog Test 


1. Swim fifty yards. 

2. Do dead man’s float fifteen seconds. 

3. Bring up saucer in four feet of water. 

4. Float on back two minutes or tread water, hands out, 2 

minutes. 

5. Swim ten yards on back. 

6. Break wrist and front strangle holds, on land. 


132 


Handbook for Guardians 



Fish Test 


i 


1. Swim one hundred yards any style. 

2. Show excellency in any style of stroke. 

3. Bring up cup in six feet of water. 

4. Be able to make a straight dive. 

5. Swim twenty-five yards on back using feet only. 

6. Tow a person fifteen feet. 

7. Break three strangle holds standing in water to neck. 

8. Assist Pollywogs for three swimming periods. 

9. Explain Schafer method of resuscitation after treatment 

of the apparently drowned. 



Flying Fish Test 


1. Handle a boat in all kinds of weather (including landing 

and tying boat to float). 

2. Perform artificial respiration by Schafer method. 


133 


Camping 

3. Swim five hundred yards at one time. 

4. Swim one mile in three days, evenly divided. 

‘5. Do three standard dives. 

6. Bring up cup in eight feet of water. 

7. Pass life-saving requirements. “Flying Fish” assist the 

swimming councillor in teaching girls to swim and form 
a boat patrol during swimming periods. 

Swimming Meet 

In swimming again will come up the question of meets. An 
expert swimming councillor in one of our best private camps 
has prepared a meet which is especially helpful to the director 
of a two-week camp. The plan is that of the groups, the same 
as in the track meets. 

After the groups have been chosen, the next thing to do is to 
decide on the events, and post a list, on which the girls may 
sign up. Two contestants from each group in each event is 
advisable. No girl should enter more than two speed events, 
nor more than three altogether. 

Try to arrange the program so that no girl competes in three 
successive events, or is kept waiting between for a long period 
of time. A program should not be planned which will take 
more than 1 Yz hours. Of course we all know that the list of 
the girls to enter the meet has to be approved by the person 
responsible for the health of the campers. 

In a smaller camp the person in charge of swimming has a 
complete program in hand, including the time of events and the 
names of contestants, all of which should be previously posted. 
Also she needs a score book and a megaphone. 

The judges should be furnished with cards, with the names 
of the contestants or the group colors indicated. The start and 
finish of each event should be explained to them beforehand, 
as some races end at the dock, some at the float, some at a line 
determined by placing life boats at a specified distance. 

In larger camps the duties might be divided. Have an an¬ 
nouncer, a clerk who reads out the names of the contestants five 
minutes before the start of each event. Appoint a scorer, 
special timers, finish judges and diving judges. 


134 


Handbook for Guardians 


For speed events or relays, lanes five feet wide are a great 
help, marked by ropes, with flag buoys (which may be home¬ 
made) attached. This device will avoid disqualification be¬ 
cause of bumping into other contestants. 

The start and finish, if not from a stationary dock or float, 
should be marked by flag buoys, the judges being at a point at 
right angles to the course, if necessary in a boat, in order to 
see clearly and easily. Life boats should be out whenever any¬ 
one is in the water, whether necessary for judging or not. A 
starting pistol, whistle, or gong is also necessary. Properties 
for races and life saving events should be ready at the dock. 
Possible events: 

Races: 

1. Free style for speed (25 yards the maximum). 

2. Specified stroke for speed (breast, back, crawl). 

3. Egg and spoon race, held in the mouth. 

4. Holding lighted candle in mouth or hard. 

5. Keeping an open umbrella dry. 

6. Pushing a watermelon ahead of you. 

7. Marshmallow contest (swim to an area scattered with 

marshmallows, gather as many as possible and swim 
back). 

8. Swim with hands or legs tied. 

9. Obstacle race. 

10. Balloon race (swim with balloon to turning point, blow it 

up and swim back). 

11. Porpoise race (specified number of surface dives within a 

certain distance). 

12. Tandem (two swimmers held together by the first swim¬ 

mer hooking her legs around the waist of the second, the 
first swims with arms only, the second with arms and 
legs). 

13. Dressing race (odd garments, such as pajamas, night 

gowns and petticoats are most amusing. At starting 
whistle, contestants dress, dive and swim to finish). 

14. Undressing race at dock, beside canoe or rowboat. This 

may also be preceded by paddling a short distance, jump- 



Camping 135 

ing overboard and undressing and paddling back. It is 
better to have two people, one to handle the canoe while 
the other is undressing. 

15. Plate diving. Gather in as many plates as possible within 

a certain area or in lines between a certain start and 
finish. 

16. Tug of war (deep and shallow). 

17. Chariot race. This necessitates canoes. One person stands 

in about the middle of the canoe holding a rope attached 
to a bar. Four girls swimming tow the canoe. Only very 
good swimmers are advised to try this as it is quite 
strenuous, but great fun. 

18. Tub race. Get big enough tubs, so that you can sit com¬ 

fortably and have your feet hang outside. Paddle slowly 
and steadily with hands, and if you tip over you are out 
of the race. 

Relays: 

1. Free style for speed. 

2. Specified stroke (for example: breast stroke first lap; back 

stroke second; side stroke third, etc. Note: Most of the 
events under “races” may be used as relays). 

Form Swimming: 

Swimming for form, not distance or speed. Short course, im¬ 
mediately in front of judges. For explanation of form, 
see “Swimming Boo!:,” by Frank J. Sullivan, sold by Thomas 
E. Wilson & Co., 25 West 45th Street, New York City. 
Price 25c., pages 58-62. Notice that in “Penalties” more is 
deducted for wrong kick. 

Life Saving: 

Certain life-saving events may be used also (see Red Cross 
Life-Saving Requirements.) 

1. Surface dive for definite object. 

2. Carries. 

3. Racing dive. 

4. Treading water. 

5. Undressing race. 


136 


Handbook for Guardians 


Diving: 

A low board should be used ( 2 l / 2 or 4 feet) and should extend 
over the dock 5 feet. The end should be covered with 
cocoa matting, burlap, canvas, or carpet. Rubber is slip¬ 
pery when wet. Water should be 10 feet deep, and the 
bottom inspected before any diving is done. 

In regular diving contests the required dives are: 

1. Front dive (running). 

2. Back dive. 

3. Running front jack dive. 

4. Back jack. 

Select two of the required dives and two optional dives. The 
dives are marked on a scale of ten, six points being the maxi¬ 
mum for execution in the air, and one point each for the other 
four elements judged. 

1. Initial position at fixed end of board. 

2. Approach. 

3. Take-off. 

4. Execution in the air. 

5. Entrance into water. 

Points are awarded the groups for winning the different 
events in the same manner as in the track meet. 

Nature Lore 

Perhaps of all camp activities, nature lore is the hardest to 
put across in the organized camp as it is constituted today, and 
it should be second in importance to no other activity in camp. 
Nature lore should be linked up, as was suggested in the sec¬ 
tion on handcraft, with true camp handcraft and with hiking, 
campcraft and all trips and exploration parties. If only the 
curiosity of the camper in regard to the world about her can 
be awakened, the rest will follow in increased and always more 
enthusiastic progression. 

Nature lore is important because it stimulates the love and 
appreciation of beauty in nature, and knowledge and care of 
living things, including the human body, and the knowledge 
and love of the Creator. No other camp activity can cover all 
these vital points. 



137 


Camping 

In scope the natuie work of camp should cover the knowl¬ 
edge of plants of value and danger in campcraft and wood¬ 
craft, it should furnish the basis for appreciation of beauty on 
hikes, and it should provide a wealth of materials for dramat¬ 
ics, games, songs and stunts. 

The following ways of arousing interest in nature work may 
be helpful to some directors who feel that their nature work is 
not receiving the interest and attention it should receive. 

1. Games that correlate the impulse for play with a more or 

less unconscious learning of new things about the 
world about camp. This includes imitation games, 
treasure hunts, etc. 

2. By animal and plant photography. 

3. By bird house building, bird census and bird banding. 

4. By making an insect census. 

5. By beautifying the tent surroundings by transplanting 

trees and ferns into otherwise ugly spots. 

6. By telling certain myths and stories, especially of stars on 

special sit-up nights or on overnight hikes. 

7. By making a garden of flowers that should not be picked 

or of rare ferns. 

8. By helping to rid the camp site or surrounding country of 

obnoxious and harmful pests, such as gipsy and brown 
tail moths. 

9. By the stocking of museums and aquariums. 

10. By leaf, flower, fern printing by means of printers’ ink, 

blue print, or by the smoke print method. 

11. By collections of the above, if the child’s instinct for col¬ 

lecting and hoarding seems to be aroused. 

12. By the keeping of note or field books, and by use of life 

history charts, by coloring in an outline when the bird 
has been discovered. 

Each nature councillor will probably have other schemes 
which she has successfully worked. What we must get away 
from in nature work is the formal, school class-room method 
of having a child learn a certain number of each thing just to 
pass the requirement for a certain award. In order to keep 


138 


Handbook for Guardians 


track of the progress of the child, it will probably be necessary 
to check up on these, but we must inspire in each girl a love 
of and an interest in the things about her. Innocent questions 
asked by the councillor or by the girls themselves often awake 
the curiosity in regard to a certain point, and this may lead 
on to consideration of other circumstances or other aspects of 
the world about them which had before remained unnoticed. 
A nature councillor, to be a success, should have the actual 
knowledge of her subject, but even more than the other coun¬ 
cillors should she have a personality which will inspire the 
girls in her care, with a love of and interest in not only the 
world about camp, but in the world about them in town and at 
home. 

Nature Lore Program 

Here are suggestions for a program of Nature Lore in a 
Camp Fire Girls two-week Camp, using the new Nature Lore 
Camp Honor as basis. This program is especially for the new 
girls, but substitutions from the list following the program can 
be easily made for the old campers and more experienced girls 
who wish to go on with the Nature Lore. Older girls can also 
easily specialize on that branch of the work in which they are 
the most interested. 

Number in Camp—20 girls, and up to a hundred. 

First Day 

Talk to whole Camp by nature councillor, to include: 

a. Poison plants, toadstools, etc., in vicinity. 

b. Dangerous reptiles, mammals, etc. 

c. Talk on conserving flowers, trees, not cutting bark. 

d. Tell about Camp Museum, Terrarium, Camp Garden, 
etc., and methods of stocking. 

e. Opportunity for questions and suggestions from campers. 
Second Day 

a. Take on trip over camp property, pointing out landmarks 
and special specimens. 

b. Study common flowers around camp, perhaps ten. 


139 


Camping 

c. Explain idea of European and native plants. 

d. Bring in and transplant at least one new addition to 
Garden. 

e. Learn to recognize one new bird by song and appearance. 

f. Play conservation game. 

Third Day 

a. Find more flowers, making up balance of 15 required. 

b. Learn two or three ferns. 

c. Find new things for Terrarium and Museum ( i.e a 
special effort to do so, other days brings in specimens as found). 

d. One new bird. 

e. Play flower tag. 

Fourth Day 

a. Study the more common trees at camp. 

b. Each take back specimens of leaves and learn how to 
make' blueprints. 

c. One new bird. 

Fifth Day 

a. Finish up balance of ten trees. 

b. Play roadside cribbage. 

c. One new bird. 

d. Finish blueprinting leaves. 

Sixth Day 

a. Distinguish between poisonous and edible mushrooms, and 
if possible, gather some edible ones and cook. 

b. Finish requirements for fifteen blueprints of flowers, ferns, 
or leaves. 

c. One new bird. 

Seventh Day 

a. Arrange to go star gazing, and study and know the stories 
of at least five constellations. 

b. One new bird. 

Eighth Day 

a. Find and learn about ope gommon butterfly. 


140 Handbook for Guardians 

b. Tell the stories of the five constellations learned the day 
before. 

c. One new bird. 

Ninth Day 

a. Find and learn about three new butterflies. 

b. Learn how to kill and mount butterflies or moths. 

c. One new bird. 

Tenth Day 

a. Study habits of at least two wild animals, the whole class 
actually observing. Play games imitating actions of animals. 

b. One new bird. 

Eleventh Day 

a. Play the “Do Good Game.” 

b. Gather together information in notebooks kept each day 
of bird observation, and .color in on Bird Plates to be obtained 
at small cost from the Comstock Publishing Company. 

Twelfth Day 

a. Finish up all work. 

b. Mount specimens, paste blueprints in book, get notebooks 

in shape, etc. , 

Branches of work to be substituted in the above, or in which 

older girls may specialize: 

Fish Mosses 

Insects Snakes 

Grasses Use of microscope 

Large collections of flowers, butterflies, etc. 

Nature songs and stories can also be used from time to time. 

Nature Lore Honors 

i. Make 15 blueprints of leaves, ferns or flowers. 

. 2. Contribute at least two new things to the Nature Museum. 

3. See, identify and describe 10 birds by plumage and song. 

. 4. Distinguish at night and describe 5 constellations and tell 

their stories. 



Camping 141 

5. Identify io varieties of mushrooms and know whether 
they are good or bad. 

6. Describe from personal observation the home, appearance, 
and habits of two wild animals or 5 insects, butterflies, or 
moths, or 3 kinds of snakes. 

7. Discover, name and know history of 10 trees, 15 wild 
flowers, 5 mosses, 5 ferns, or 10 grasses and make a nature 
book. 

A choice of any four requirements must be won to qualify 
for this honor. In the symbol it is suggested that the leaves be 
green, the center flower yellow. If won the second time, paint 
a green cap on the flower. 

***** 

Nature Games 

These nature games were taught by Dr. E. Laurence Palmer 
of the Rural Education Department of Cornell University and 
Dr. Wm. Vinal of Rhode Island College at the camp leadership 
course at Bear Mountain, April 28 to May 3, 1924: 

Conservation Game —This game can best be played when 
the nature class is studying flowers. Five slips of paper on 
which are to be written the names of the players are given to 
each member of the class. The class is then divided into two 
sides and a certain rather large territory is assigned to each, 
on which grow one or more kinds of flowers. Each player is 
to camouflage some flower or plant by means of leaves, sticks, 
etc., so that it will not be observed by passersby. A slip with 
the name of the player is to be put at the foot of the plant. 
(Care should be taken that the plant is not smothered by the 
camouflaging material, but is merely protected from the care¬ 
less picking of the people passing by). At the end of 10 min¬ 
utes, the leader blows the whistle and the two sides exchange 
territories, each side trying to discover as many as possible 
of the names hidden by the other side. At the end of a certain 
period, the players all come in, and the names which have been 
found are handed back to their owners. The one to whom 
is returned the smallest number, of course, wins, as she has 
played the Conservation Game best because she has protected 
her plants from careless passersby. The person having the 


142 Handbook for Guardians 

least number of slips is then requested to show the rest of 
the class where and how well she has protected the plants. 

Flower Tag —Can best be played on a clear space where 
there may be found several kinds of flowers of the same species. 
At Bear Mountain we played Flower Tag using the rosette 
flowers for safety spots: sorrel, dandelion, fleabane, coltsfoot, 
and common and European plantain. At a certain distance 
from the starting line, say 100 feet, sticks or “gold” is placed 
in a parallel line. The players try to get to this other line and 
return as many times as possible with one stick of gold. 
The person who is “it” can tag any player who stops for 
safety anywhere but at one of the rosette flowers. Each person 
who is tagged also becomes a tagger, so that at the en o 
the game, one or two people try to hop back and forth seeking 
safety near one of the rosettes. The person having the largest 
amount of sticks (which signify the number of times she has 
gone across and back safely) wins. This can also be played 
with a certain kind of tree, or different specie of flowers. 

Roadside Cribbage -Each member of the class is given xo 
pebbles. As the leader walks along he calls out, for instance, 
“There is a white pine within 50 feet.” He then keeps walking 
along at the usual pace. The first member of the class who 
brings in one cluster of spills from a white pine is entitled to 
throw away three of his pebbles, the second two, the third one. 

The leader of course has to be careful to call for trees an 

flowers, grasses, etc., that are not rare. This game is espe¬ 
cially good for learning the more common roadside flowers, 

trees, shrubs, etc. . £ . , 

Do Good Game —The leader takes the class out into the field 

and divides them into even teams and then gives each member 
of each team (except the leader of the team) 5 minutes to go 
anywhere and do one good turn to the trees, flowers, general 

appearance of the woods, etc. At the end of 4 minutes, a 

warning whistle is given, and at the end of the 5 minutes, each 
member must have reported to the leader of the team the good 
turn done. This can also be played by the leader asking for 
a certain specimen to be brought in, and the team getting the 
most wins. In this case also care must be taken in the choosing 
of specimens called for. 


143 


Camping 

The do a good turn stunts may include the following: 
destroying a nest of tent caterpillars or brown tail moths, 
camouflaging native flowers, piling up loose underbrush, pick¬ 
ing up paper or rubbish, etc. 

Stunts 

Stunts give the camper an opportunity to use her originality 
and are an excellent method of self-expression. Stunt night in 
camp is always a gala event, and many and amazing are the 
costumes which will appear. It is best to stress originality in 
camp stunts, and to avoid repetition in short term camps. In 
order to make sure of this, it is a good idea to have a coun¬ 
cillor to whom each group will report the artistic attempt or 
otherwise which they intend to put on as their share of the 
entertainment. 

Singing, Dramatics, and Pageantry 

The standards for these three activities in camp should be 
kept very high. In singing, especially in view of the united 
effort for better singing which has been made by Camp Fire 
Girls, a very decided attempt should be made to get away 
from the prevalent and tiresome parodying of popular tunes. 
Such beautiful songs have been written about the woods and 
nature and all they mean to those who really love them, that it 
seems almost sacreligious to profane a beautiful camp site and 
make old trees and flowers listen to some of the horrible shout¬ 
ing which passes for singing in some camps. The girls must 
have their jolly and rollicking tunes, of course, but let us carry 
over into our camp each summer that desire for really good 
singing by our girls which was begun in our 1924 Birthday 
Month. Old American and English folk songs, camping songs, 
and really beautiful words set to the better class of old folk 
songs will be in the end much more satisfying to the campers. 

So little time is available for dramatics in our two week 
camps that we must be careful not to attempt too long or too 
difficult plays. Little Irish plays are often simple and effective, 
and under no consideration should any girl be asked to spend 
many of her few precious hours in camp stupidly learning 
lines. Bible dramatics are splendid for Sunday morning ser- 


144 Handbook for Guardians 

vices, and Indian and folk dances can be used to good advant¬ 
age at Council Fires. Pageants can often be produced without 
an enormous amount of time being spent on them, and girls 
interested in that sort of thing will get a good deal of pleasure 
and profit out of working them up in a more or less impromptu 
manner. Local history of interest, or national holidays can 
often be used as a basis for them. 

Gypsy Trips 

Some time during each session every girl at camp will want 
to sleep out, or will want to adventure in some real way out of 
camp. Perhaps every girl in camp is not up to taking a long 
or strenuous hike, but somehow each director should arrange 
that every single girl gets the opportunity to sleep out on the 
ground. And we must realize that to the timid or inexperienced 
camper sleeping on the ground, even in earshot of camp, has its 
thrills and exciting adventure. In every camp there is a trip 
suitable for each girl. 

It seems only fair to the girl herself that she should pass 
certain minimum requirements before being sent out to camp. 
This would include knowing how to roll a poncho and make her 
bed satisfactorily, how to build a fire, be able to cook at least 
one dish, and physically be able to take the trip easily. These 
requirements should be part of the camp craft honors and no 
girl should spend two weeks at camp without acquiring such 
information. 

In fact, at some camps the trip comes as the culmination of 
the instruction in camp craft, and is a part of that activity. 
But no matter how you go about arranging these overnight 
trips, just be sure that the girl is ready for it. 

The kinds of trips vary as much as the winds themselves. 
Some campers will have to go all the way by rowboat or by 
canoe, others must hike with their packs on their backs, others 
will have their dunnage taken to a certain point, some will climb 
mountains, and others will have to be content to hike along 
pikes and highroads. But a gypsy trip or overnight trip means 
a good time, and we want the good time to continue, in spite of 
inexperienced cooks and a chance rain. 


Camping 145 

Trips should always be well planned beforehand, with 
equipment lists posted so that the girls may bring enough but not 
too much, with the food ready to be distributed among the 
trippers if it has to be carried by them in packs. Somebody 
back at camp should know where to locate the party in case of 
any emergency. 

For the average overnight trip, the following equipment will 
probably be found adequate: 

Toothbrush. 

Towel and soap. 

Comb. 

Flashlight. 

Extra pair woolen hose. 

2 blankets and heavy bathrobe. 

Poncho. 

8 large blanket or safety pins. 

Pair pajamas. 

Mess kit and drinking cup. 

Full match box. 


The councillor in charge will take an axe in a sheath, com¬ 
pass and maps, if needed, emergency kit, whistle, list of com¬ 
missary, receipts, etc., in addition to her own equipment. 

It is generally a bit more fun to have the food to be eaten on 
out-of-camp trips different than that we have at camp. Two 
typical overnight trip menus may be of some help. 


Suppers 


Breakfasts 


I Corn chowder 

(with bacon and onion) 
Pickles and Cheese chips 
Ginger snaps and Cocoa 
II Macaroni, cheese and to¬ 
mato 

Toasted crackers 
Fig newton and Cocoa 


I Dates and Oatmeal 
Bacon and Triscuit 
Coffee or Cocoa 

II Oatmeal and raisins 

Flap jacks with brown 
sugar sauce 
Cocoa 


This arrangement supposes that the girls will be back at 
camp in time for dinner the following day. Some trips going 


146 


Handbook for Guardians 


out from camp during the day will have some definite objective 
in view and may not want to stop to cook, but eat a quick meal 
beside a brook. Try some of these hiker’s lunches. You will 
find they contain all the nourishment you will need for a long 
afternoon hike. 

Apricots Pilot Crackers 

Pickles Peanut Butter 

Cheese Crackers Marmalade 

Bran Cookies Bran Cookies 

Bar Nut Chocolate Bar Molasses Chocolate 

On some trips you can depend on farmhouses for supplies of 
fresh milk, eggs, and fruits. On others, dried fruits and milk 
must be taken along. The type of country through which the 
trip will go will depend on the supplies necessary to take from 
camp, and trips out of camp for more than a night would prob¬ 
ably take pup tents. 

It goes without saying that trippers should at all times re¬ 
spect the property of the farmers along the way, leave every 
camp site in even better condition than that in which they 
found it, avoid woods-vandalism, and be sure that all fires are 
put out. 

Awards 

Where to begin with an award system, and where to stop is 
a grave problem in every camp. We realize that each girl who 
does exceptionally good work in camp, or rather, each girl who 
puts forth worthy effort, should receive some recognition of 
that fact. But we must not let our local camp honors reach 
such proportions that they become a burden and so common that 
a great deal of their original significance is lost. For this 
reason it seems good judgment to establish a system of national 
camp honors, the same as the honors for the seven crafts, have 
some few required, perhaps, and the others classified according 
to their degree of difficulty. This would give the campers some¬ 
thing very definite to work toward at each new session of camp 
which she attends. The swimming standards in the swimming 
section illustrate how this would work out. 

The real reward for earnest effort should be found in con- 


147 


Camping 

nection with the satisfaction of doing the thing, and awards 
should be identified with individual or group consciousness of 
effort well performed. Some educators deem it advisable to 
minimize individual winning of prizes and stress group effort, 
to give less credit for native ability or actual accomplishment 
and more credit to effort and improvement. 

In summer in our various award systems, can we not try to 
get away from this learning of a certain number of trees or the 
making of a certain amount of handwork, or distinction in some 
sport just for the sake of getting a piece of leather for our 
gowns, and put more emphasis on improvement over previous 
records and on contributions to the welfare and happiness of 
the group? Let us each try in our own way to improve our 
own system of awards and simplify and dignify them to the 
degree we all feel they should be. And always aim for higher 
standards. 

Standards for Camp 

Remember that even the Smallest Camp Can Rank High 

There is a tendency in the larger camps to increase the num¬ 
ber of honors that can be won so that the activities become 
almost a burden and campers are inclined to work harder than 
is perhaps wise. To meet this situation we are offering a choice 
of certain requirements necessary for winning camp craft, hand¬ 
craft and nature honors. 

We want to emphasize camp craft honors. Camp Fire Girls 
should try to become better acquainted with the woods. They 
should learn to do things at camp that they will not have the 
opportunity to do at home. We want them to be real campers. 
This means learning \o look after themselves and others out¬ 
doors. For this result we offer the following three ranks to be 
earned in camp craft. 

Fagot Finder 

1. Build two good fires, one for warmth and one for cooking, 

with material found out-of-doors, and leave fires prop¬ 
erly put out. 

2. Fry an egg on a hot stone, or cook an egg in hot ashes 

after wrapping it in wet paper. 


148 Handbook for Guardians 


3. Assist in cooking a meal out-of-doors and clean up after¬ 

wards. 

4. Make a bed on the ground and sleep out-of-doors one night 

without talking between taps and reveille. 

5. Make one outdoor cooking device for using a kettle or 

frying pan. 

6. Make a map. 



Trail Maker 


Fagot Finder Symbol 


1. Build three kinds of fires, tepees, crisscross and trapper’s 

(Book of “The Camp Fire Girls”). 

2. Be responsible for cooking, in a hole in the ground, beans, 

chickens, clams, or potatoes for a group of six. This 
must include cleaning up afterwards satisfactorily. 

3. Be responsible with one other for two meals on a trip for 

a group of six. 

4. Take an overnight hike rolling your poncho or making 

your pack. 

5. Make two good devices for holding a pot over a fire, and 

two for holding a frying pan over a fire. 

6. Make a canvas or poncho shelter for protection against 

the rain. 

Make the pine tree green and the foot- 
^ prints yellow. 

Trail Maker Symbol 




Camping 


149 


Gypsy 

1. Build and be responsible for the evening camp or Council 

Fire. 

2. Build a reflector fire. (No fire is credited until properly 

left or put out.) 

3. Do all the camp cooking without help for one day for four 

or more persons. 

4. Erect a tent or make a shelter of material found in the 

woods. 

5. Make a permanent outdoor fireplace. 

6. Know proper disposal of camp garbage and refuse and 

dispose of it for at least two days. 

7. Organize a trail-blazing or hidden treasure hike. 

Note: Any five requirements must be won in each grade to 
qualify. 



Gypsy 


The yellow sun’s rays and the red flame indicate being at 
home out-of-doors. 

Nature Lore Honor 

1. Make fifteen blue prints of trees, ferns or flowers. 

2. Contribute at least two new things to the nature museum. 

3. See, identify and describe ten birds by plumage and song. 

4. Distinguish at night and describe five constellations and 

tell their stories. 

5. Identify ten varieties of mushrooms and know whether 

they are edible or poisonous. 



150 Handbook for Guardians 

6. Describe from personal observation the home appearance 

and habits of two wild animals or five insects, butter¬ 
flies or moths, or three kinds of snakes. 

7. Discover, name and know history of ten trees, fifteen wild 

flowers, five mosses, five ferns, or ten grasses and make 
a nature book. 

A choice of any four requirements must be won to qualify for 
this honor. 



Nature Lore Honor 

Make the leaves green and the centre of the flower yellow. 

Handcraft Honor 

Make three pieces in any line of handcraft, at least one to be 
chosen from Class 2 below. 

Class 1—pottery, toy making, bookbinding, count book, weav¬ 
ing, leatherwork, tie dyeing, blocking and stencil¬ 
ling, beadwork, wood carving. 

Class 2—Make a basket (using local wildwood material, pine 
needles, raffia,' reed), totem pole, Indian clock, 
rush mat, bird bath, a hickory or camp broom. 

Note: “The Book of Woodcraft,” by Ernest Thompson Seton, 
will be of use to you in planning handcraft. In the making of 
handcraft articles, particular attention should be paid to use¬ 
fulness, originality, beauty of line and color. 



Camping 


151 



Handcraft Honor Symbol 

The symbol of the hands and that of the person. Make 
the hands green and the bar yellow. 

Wohelo Order 

Suggested requirements for this, the Camp Honor. 

1. Swim once a day unless excused. 

2. Be on time for meals and classes. 

3. Be neat in tent, at table, and in general appearance. 

4. Observe the gospel of the clean plate. 

5. Give some voluntary service at camp. 

6. Advance one rank in swimming or teach a beginner. 

7. Write an original song, cheer, verse, story, or turn in a 

good picture which you have taken. 

8. Attend setting-up exercises every day. 

9. Finish one article at camp. 

10. Show good camp spirit. 

11. Keep silent hour. 

12. Win one of the camp craft honors, and either the nature 

or handcraft honor. 

It is strongly recommended that the honor for the best all 
round girl be discontinued as the results have not always been 
of the best. We recommend honors that every girl can win. 
Every girl who loves Camp Fire is interested when new 




152 


Handbook for Guardians 


honors are created. But there is a danger in working for the 
symbol rather than for what it stands when you are perfecting 
yourself in one of the crafts. 

With these new land honors for camps for example, the idea 
is not to have the girls spend all their waking hours feverishly 
tie-dyeing, making pottery, stenciling, and wood blocking for 
the sake of handcraft honors. It is rather to let them work on 
wood carving because they are really interested in it, would 
like to understand its principles and uses better, and find it 
something to do which keeps them keen and alert. 

Then the honor is just a postscript to all the time they have 
given to wood carving. It pleasantly reminds them of it and 
it tells other girls who see it on their gowns that they are some¬ 
what at home in wood carving. 



A special honor to be given for anything the director decides. 
These arrowheads indicate making things hum. 



An honor awarded for An honor awarded to 

knowing every girl in eac ^ in t ^ ie mosl 

camp orderl y teni * 




Camping 153 



JVohelo Order, signifying the double strength of the Torch 
and the Pine Tree. 

Personal Standards 

We have set the highest possible standards for the manage¬ 
ment and organization of our Camp Fire camps. And now 
to the standards which we must expect and really demand of 
the girls themselves. No camp is any neater or cleaner than 
its occupants, and can we expect a camp to look shipshape when 
its girls dress in all sorts of colors and weird combinations? 
Camp may be right enough the place to wear out old clothes, 
but there is no time like the present to start in to work to¬ 
ward a camp uniform. Old clothes suitable for camp wear 
cannot last forever, and a start toward uniformity must be 
made sometime. 

All-white middies are best and the cheapest. Tell your girls 
to buy that kind, get special prices from local dealers, educate 
the mothers to the decided superiority of all-white middies. 
Black or dark blue bloomers should be required, and should 
be put on the “necessary” list. Bloomers may not be of woolen 
material, but insist that they be of the same color. Black 
cotton stockings, or woolen stockings for hikes, come next on 
the list. White tennis shoes or Keds for camp use, with ma¬ 
terial to keep them white, and a certain colored tie make up a 
minimum camp uniform requirement. Establish this camp 
uniform, give the girls opportunity to wear it during the 
winter, and in a year or so you will be proud of the looks of 
your campers. Colored blouses of different styles and descrip- 





154 


Handbook for Guardians 


tions, oxfords with heels, knickers of various cuts and styles 
and colors should not be tolerated. If everybody can afford 
knickers of the same kind, all well and good, but never half 
and half,—half in knickers and half in bloomers. And then 
get the girls to wear the uniform correctly, to be proud of it, 
in camp and out. It is a goal for each and every director to 
work toward, and she should remain unsatisfied with her 
camp until it is attained. 

The list of necessary equipment for a two-weeks stay at 
camp would include the articles listed below: 


Personal Equipment for Camp 
4 or 5 all-white middies. 

i or more pairs of black or dark blue bloomers, 
i pair white tennis shoes, 
i pair heavy shoes for hiking. 

3 double woolen blankets or equivalent. 

3 sheets, 2 pillow cases. 

4 bath towels. 

Personal toilet articles. 

Mess kit or its equivalent, jack-knife. 

Note book, pencils, etc. 

Flash light. 

Regulation camp middy tie. 

Bathing suit and cap. 

Sweater for trips and cool days. 

Poncho or rain coat for trips, blanket pins. 

Ceremonial gown, moccasins, bead band. 

4 or 5 changes of underwear, stockings for camp use and 
i pair woolen socks. 

Sewing kit. 


The following desirable equipment may be brought: books 
to put in camp library, kodak and films, musical instruments, 
tennis racquet and balls, fancy dress costume, “Book of the 
Camp Fire Girls.” 

Personal neatness should be insisted upon at all times, and 
adequate facilities for washing of face and hands at frequent 



155 


Camping 

intervals should be provided. Personal hygiene of campers 
must be insisted upon and governed by carefulness and com¬ 
mon sense. Soap scrubs should be taken at regular intervals 
aside from the regular swimming periods, and hair should be 
sunned and washed regularly. Tent councillors should be re¬ 
sponsible for the personal cleanliness of the girls under their 
care, and any irregularities should be reported immediately to 
the nurse. 

Inasmuch as camp is a miniature community, an arrangement 
of living most vitally shared, with common interests and aims, 
with great facility of communication, manners and camp eti¬ 
quette are social necessities. The girl will learn early in her 
camp experiences that what she gets from camp will be in 
direct proportion to what she puts into it. A constant adjust¬ 
ment to the group is necessary, the idea of respect for the 
personality of others is fostered, as well as a spirit of helpful¬ 
ness and a feeling of tolerance for others perhaps not so for¬ 
tunately endowed physically. Camp is a place where the girl 
actually practices citizenship. It should begin by good table 
manners, and by kindness and sympathetic understanding in 
tents or living quarters, and in camp activities. Guests should 
always be treated politely and made to feel welcome. 

The Camp Fire Program in Camp 

The handcraft, campcraft, nature lore and athletic activities 
in camp can in most instances be based on the regular honors as 
stated in the “Book of the Camp Fire Girls,” and camp of 
course should offer the girls the chance to earn many honors 
which they cannot earn in the city. However, it does not 
seem right to omit certain very valuable aspects of any activity 
just because no honor is covered for it in the “Book of the 
Camp Fire Girls.” Nor should a local camp honor be neces¬ 
sarily given for such as are not taken care of by the regu¬ 
lar honors. But insofar as it can he done, opportunity for 
the earning of all honors should be given at camp. Interest 
will be stimulated in them in proportion as interest is stimu¬ 
lated in the subject itself. Girls will find splendid opportunity 
at camp for working for ranks, especially for that of Torch 
Bearer. 


156 


Handbook for Guardians 


Camp assemblies will take care of all routine affairs which 
should be brought to the attention of the camp as a whole, and 
at them the girls may practice new songs for the Council Fire. 
Assemblies should be held outdoors whenever possible, and it 
is a good plan to shift the meeting place from time to time. 
The day can be started off right by the reading of a beautiful 
poem, or a bit of scripture. Sunday assemblies may have more 
of the spiritual element, and Bible dramatics are very appro¬ 
priate, and also special chorus singing. 

The Council Fire will probably be held once a week, or once a 
session. At it honors should be given, and as much as possible 
the special plans for each ceremonial should be kept in the 
hands of a committee of girls. The program may often be 
varied, and also the place of holding it. The top of a hill, the 
beach, a natural amphitheatre in the,woods, or a modified Coun¬ 
cil held on the lake, will all be welcome changes to the girls. 
Indian dances, the telling of local legends, special singing, all 
help to vary the program. 

Single Group Camping Trips 

The same general standards which apply to the larger groups 
will apply in a diluted and modified form to smaller groups, or 
to the single group trip. Such an elaborate schedule will not 
be necessary, of course, but standards of dress, of health, of 
sanitation, of diet, and of activities will hold good, and are 
applicable to the small group. For the week-end party, or the 
one group trip, supplies may often be brought directly from 
home, and so the actual outlay in money by the individual girl 
will be less. Cottages of families or friends are often loaned for 
the occasion, and of course should be left in excellent condition. 

The girls should be held up to the highest personal standards, 
and as much educational value should be received at the more 
informal type of camp as at the more organized type. Guard¬ 
ians have a wonderful opportunity to learn to know their girls, 
and to set before them simple ideals of living from day to day. 
No Guardian should attempt to take her group camping without 
another adult present, and preferably not without a committee 
behind her. 


Camping 


157 


THE CAMPERS’ SONG 

Agathe Deming 

Follow the trail to the open air, 

Alone with the hills and sky; 

A pack on your back, but never a care, 

Letting the days slip by. 

Healing fragrance of pines in the dark, 

Glow from a camper’s fire; 

Starlight and shadow and music of waves, 

While the gray smoke curls higher. 

Follow the trail to the open air, 

Letting the days slip by; 

A smile on your lips, a song in your heart, 

One with the hills and sky. 

(Tune: Stevenson’s “Swing Song.” The music was written by 
Edward I. Wood and may be found in Book I, Hollis Dann Music 
Series, published by the American Book Company, New York.) 

Camp Questionnaire 

Every Guardian who takes her group camping, and of course 
every camp director, should fill out and return the Camp Ques¬ 
tionnaire which is sent out each year by National Headquarters. 
We want to be able to furnish accurate statistics on Camp Fire 
Girls camping activities, and you who take the girls camping 
are the only ones who can give it to us. The report asked for 
is not long nor complicated. The camping season closes in 
September, and promptness in returning the questionnaire will 
be very much appreciated. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON CAMPING 

Camp Management {site, sanitation, etc.) 

Camps and Camping, 1921, 1922, 1923 

Spalding’s, 523 Fifth Ave., New York City, 25 c 
Manual on Organized Camping, by L. H. Weir 

Macmillan, 64 Fifth Ave., New York City, or Camp Fire Outfitting 
Co., $2.00 


158 Handbook for Guardians 

Home and Community Hygiene, by Jean Broadhurst 

Lippincott’s, Philadelphia, $2.5C 

Camp Health, Safety and Sanitation 

Boy Scouts of America, 200 Fifth Ave., New York City, 20c 

Commissary and Diet: 

Army Cook’s Manual Uoc. 564, War Department 

Feeding the Family, by Mary Swartz Rose Macmillan, $2.50 


Health Standards :] 


Business Records: 

Camps and Camping, 1921 




Spalding 25c 


/ 


Handcraft: 

How to Make Baskets, by Mary White 

Milton Bradley Co., New \ork City, $1.50 

Hand Loom Weaving, by Todd 

Milton Bradley Co., New York City, $1.30 

The Potter’s Craft, by Binns 

D. Van Nostrand & .Co., New York City, $2.50 

Books of Woodcraft, by E. T. Seton 

Doubleday Page & Co., Garden City, N. Y., $2.00 

Shelters, Shacks and Shanties, by Dan Beard 

Chas. Scribner’s, New York City, $1.75 

Boat Building and Boating, by Dan Beard Scribner’s, $1.50 

Bird Houses and How’’to Build Them 

Farmers’ Bulletin No. 609, Dept, of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 


A thletics: 

Health by Stunts, by Pearl and Brown Macmillan, $1.40 

Athletic Games, by Pulvermacher and Bancroft Macmillan, $2.00 

325 Group Contests, by Cromie Macmillan, $1.50 

Official Handbook of Girls’ Branch of the Public Schools Athletic 
League of the City of New York, 157 East 67th St., N. Y., Free 
Official rules for every sport may be obtained from A. G. Spalding 
a Bros., 523 Fifth, Ave., New York City, 25c 


Swimming and Canoeing: 

Swimming Book, by Frank J. Sullivan 

Thos. E. Wilson Co., Chicago, Ill., 25c 
American Red Cross Pamphlets 1005, 1004, 1002 

National A. R. C., Washington, D. C., Free 
Swimming and Life-saving Standards and Canoeing Standards for 
Summer Camps (Camp Directors Ass’n.) 

Eugene Lehman, Highland Manor, Tarrytown-on-Hudson, N. Y., 50c 
Handbook for Canoeing Councillors 
' Eleanor Deming, Merrill, N. Y., 25c 


Camping 


159 


Gypsy Trips: Everygirl’s, May, 1923 

Everygirl’s, June, 1924 

Assemblies: 

Services for the Open, by Laura I. Matoon and Helen D. Bragdon 

Doubleday Page, $1.00 

Singing: 

Twice 55 Community Songs No. 1 

C. C. Burchard & Co., 221 Columbus Ave., Boston, Mass., 15c 

Dancing, Dramatics, Pageantry: 

Folk Dances and Singing dames, by Elizabeth Burchenal 

G. Schirmer, New York City, $1.50 
Plays for School and Camp, by Lord 

Little Brown & Co., 354 Fourth Ave., New York City, $1.50 
Lists of Pageants, issued by Women’s Press 

600 Lexington Ave., New York City, Free 
Indian Folk Tales, by Nixon-Roulet 

American Book Co., New York City, $.56 

Camp Craft and Cookery: 

Camping, by IJorace Kephart, 2 vols. Macmillan, $3.00 

Camp Cookery, by Horace Kephart Macmillan, $1.00 

Nature Lore: 

All Night with the Stars Women’s Press, 25c 

Flower and Bird Guides in Handy Pocket Edition, by Chester Reed 

Doubleday Page, $1.25 

Lists of Lefax Sheets and other material excellent for nature work in 
camp may be obtained from The Comstock Pub. Co., Ithaca, N. Y. 
The Audubon and National Geographic Societies will furnish material 
upon request. 

U. S. Dept, of Agriculture through its Farmers’ Bulletins can give 
much material. For example, Food of Some Wellknown Birds of 
Forest, Farm and Garden, Bulletin No. 506. 

Miscellaneous: * 

Red Cross First Aid Manual 

Everyday Manners Macmillan, $1.00 

Songs of the Out of Doors, by Henry Van. Dkye Scribner’s, $1.00 
The Open Road, by E. V. Lucas 

Henry Holt Co., New York City, $1.50 

Any other information in regard to bibliographies or about any camp 
question will be answered by the Camping Department at Head¬ 
quarters. 


CHAPTER VIII 



HOLD ON TO HEALTH 

“Hold on to Health,” the fourth Law of the Camp Fire Girls, 
is one of the features of the program which makes its value dis¬ 
tinctive. To develop healthy girls rather than athletes, is Camp 
Fire’s ambition. Therefore the program does not include mili¬ 
tary drill, formal exercise, nor those sports featuring the com¬ 
petitive element which require intensive individual training. 
Instead, the emphasis is placed upon the forming of health 
habits, and upon group games and such sports as are of natural 
interest to the girls and not a tax upon their strength. 

The Forming of Health Habits 

The Camp Fire health program makes the keeping of the 
Health Chart of prime importance. The experiments and ex¬ 
perience of national health organizations and specialists have 
gone into the drafting of this chart. The fundamental health 
laws governing diet, cleanliness, fresh air, sleep and exercise 
are tabulated on the chart in such a way that the girls are 
stimulated to observe them regularly by keeping a daily record. 

To become a Wood Gatherer, she must have earned 450 
points in one month, and to become a Fire Maker she must 
have kept the Health Chart for two months, earning 540 point 3 
each month. A Torch Bearer must have kept the Health 
Chart for three months before she wins her rank. A national 
honor is given for earning 90 % of the points on the Health 
Chart every month for twelve months. 

Besides keeping the Health Chart, girls may win honors in 
First Aid and Personal Hygiene. 

160 








Health 


161 


Sports 

Camp Fire sponsors organized games as opposed to competi¬ 
tive athletics. An opportunity for all of the girls of a group 
or camp to participate in the healthy, jolly exercise of lively 
games is much more heartily endorsed than the developing of a 
high jumper, a long distance swimmer, or a champion tennis 
player. 

On the other hand, girls are encouraged to participate in 
sports which are of special interest to them, and honors are 
given for achievement in swimming, golf, horseback riding, 
canoeing, tennis, etc. However, emphasis is placed upon the 
amount of exercise which a girl gets from her sports rathet 
than upon remarkable proficiency. 

Including Health in the Weekly Program Plans 

The following outline gives suggestions for a progressive 
program of health activities: 

A. Methods of interesting girl in own Health. 

1. Example of leader, posture, health, etc. 

2 . Questionnaire method. 

3 . Explanation of health symbols, and explanation of chart 

and Health honors.* 

4 . Actual comparison with Height and Weight tables. 

5 . Reading aloud of Health articles in Everygirl’s. 

6 . Deciding on certain honors to start in to keep immedi¬ 

ately, and as preparation for Membership requirement. 

7 . Talk on Health by leader or outside person. 

8 . Discussion by group of importance of Health. 

B. Suggested progression of Health activities to be carried 

on during first year of group or of individual members. 

1 . Take certain combinations of Health Craft Honors and 
Health Chart requirements to work on for certain length 
of time. 

* For winning the required number of points on the Health Chart for 
one month, a girl may wear the Health symbol. A bar may be added 
to the symbol for each additional winning. If the honor has been won 
for twelve consecutive months, a National Honor is awarded. For 
this honor the charts, properly made out, must be sent to the National 
Honor Committee. 



162 


Handbook for Guardians 


2 . Discussion of properly balanced diets, with study of 

calories, classes of foods, etc. 

3 . Follow definitely Health articles in Everygirl's . 

4 . Provide opportunities for group hours out-of-doors, and 

cultivate love of out-of-door life in the girls. 

5 . Have experts in to talk to girls on proper methods of 

cleaning teeth, washing hair, etc. 

6 . Prepare simple posters. 

7 . Bring important news items concerned with Health to 

group meetings, and have regular time for their dis¬ 
cussion. 

8 . Help in and understand need for certain National cam¬ 

paigns, such as sale of Anti-tuberculosis Christmas 
seals, etc. 

9 . Have group take active part in local projects for better 

Community Health, such as Clean-up days, Paint-up 
week, etc. 

10 . Discussion of the shoe problem, with charts. 

11 . Begin to interest family in the problems brought up in 
the group. 

C. Suggested progression or possible Health activities for 
second year. 

1 . Plan menus, and cook at home. 

2 . Take turns planning menus, properly balanced, and 

serving to the group. 

3 . More scientific discussion of Health Chart led by doctor, 

nurse or other outside qualified person. 

4 . Begin to keep Health Chart in earnest. 

5 . Continue with national and local Health activities, as¬ 

suming more responsibility for the group. 

6 . By menu planning and cooking at home, and keeping of 

Health Chart, interest the family vitally in diet and 
formation of Health Habits. 

7 . Interest some local dealer in correct shoes, and arrange 

small exhibit for group and friends. 

8 . Arrange for complete and properly presented informa¬ 

tion for passing of Fire Maker’s personal hygiene re¬ 
quirement. 


Health 


163 


9 . Poster exhibit. 

10 . Take up fully the resolutions of the Women’s Division 
of the National Amateur Athletic Federation regard¬ 
ing Health in all sorts of athletic participation. (See 
The Guardian, February-March, 1924 .) 

11 . Discussion of good manners and courtesy, see Every- 
girVs , for November, December, February and April, 
1924 . 

Suggestions for Health Education projects and for other 
possibilities for Health work to be fitted in at any time during 
the existence of the group, depending on circumstances of 
environment, collective ability of group, and time available, 
and amount of interest. 

A. Individual directly benefited by 

a. Camping program (especially in group or organized 

sectional camp) to make health and recreation carried 
on entirely out-of-doors possible. 

b. Working up of group contests by means of charts, etc., 

which keep track of individual improvement in pos¬ 
ture, formation of Health Charts, etc., but which do 
not stress competition between girls of unequal native 
ability. 

c. Encouraging of development of hobbies which will help 

them through recreation to find better Health. 

B. Projects started or assisted by group looking toward better 

Health of their Community. 

a. School—getting room, teacher, or other authorities inter¬ 

ested in Chart or other Camp Fire Health activities. 
May lead to: 

1 . Installing of system of medical examination. 

2 . Attention to undernourished children through Height 

and Weight table measurements. 

3 . Preparation of hot school lunches. 

4 . Better regulation of school girls’ basket-ball, hockey 

teams, and more strict examining of entrants. 

b. Cooperation in Health Centres, baby clinics, etc. 

C. Arranging of Health week in community. 



164 Handbook for Guardians 

d. Extensive campaign for better shoes in connection with 

dealers. 

e. Visits to dairies, local water works, packing houses, etc. 

f. Putting on Health play or festival. 

g. Procuring Health movies of various kinds from Child 

Welfare Association, Y. W. C. A. and other agencies 
who rent approved movies, and arranging its showing. 

h. Running off a properly organized Field Day, introduc¬ 

ing organized group games, and according to Women’s 
Division of the N. A. A. F. resolution. 

Note: We recommend Home Hygiene and Care of the Sick, 
published by The American Red Cross, Washington, D. C., as 
an excellent reference book for Camp Fire groups to own. 


CAMP FIRE COURSE IN ENGLAND 

To train Guardians in Camp Fire technique, training courses 
are given yearly, both in the United States and England. 
Information may be obtained from National Headquarters. 




CHAPTER IX 

STANDARDS 

In an organization as large and growing as Camp Fire, 
standards of some sort are inevitable. They are, at best, a 
debatable subject especially when they produce what has been 
called lock-step results. Such results, of course, crush out all 
the individuality which is the very quality that Camp Fire 
wishes to understand in girls and train and foster. 

The standard for which Camp Fire is trying is not one that 
can be expressed in a few words and applied to all girls indis¬ 
criminately. It is rather one which assumes that our leaders 
are women of personality, taste, and discrimination who will 
exact something fine from the girls with whom they work. 

Possibly you consider this too general to be of any definite 
use. As a matter of fact, it does throw it all back on you. It 
says that cheap, ordinary mediocre results are not to be accepted 
in Camp Fire and that leaders must study and keep abreast of 
the times in order to offer the best to their girls. 

There is no reason ever to question the ideals or the motives 
of any Camp Fire Guardian, but all of us can stand checking 
up in regard to standards. It is not only that we must keep 
the highest standard in the matter of awarding ranks and 
honors but in other phases of Camp Fire as well. What is the 
advantage to your girls if you hold them to high standards in 
the fulfilling of the requirements for ranks if you do not main¬ 
tain a high standard in the matter of craft work or singing. 

165 











166 


Handbook for Guardians 


And it is not just enough to talk about it, is it? As Guardians 
you have your difficulties, your temptations. Will the girls dis¬ 
like you if you refuse to accept less than their best and a high 
grade of best at that? At first, perhaps, if they have not been 
used to high standards, but they will never lose respect for you 
because of your stand. And you can soon win them to do what 
is expected of them. That is the glorious part about young 
girls. They will be just as fine as you demand them to be. 

Standards In Awarding Honors 

Underlying our standards of every sort in Camp Fire are 
those which we maintain in awarding honors. This question 
practically all rests with the Guardian. If she sets a high 
standard at the start, the girls are going to respond to it. In 
the awarding of honors, for example, it is the Guardian who 
decides whether or not the girl has fulfilled the requirements. 

The philosophy back of the requirements for honors is briefly 
this—The girl’s effort counts. So does her sincerity. But a girl 
can put forth effort and sincerity into the winning of an honor 
and still get a result that is not practical, beautiful, or that 
measures up in some other important way. Having an honor 
meet this requirement of being beautiful, practical, or abso¬ 
lutely right in some other important way is the very essence of a 
standard. To adhere to an inner standard like this is not only 
sound but infinitely worth while. 

On the other hand standards in awarding honors must not 
become too crystalized or the individual girl is lost sight of 
Remember that our program assumes an interest in the indi¬ 
vidual and that it is in the awarding of honors that the stand¬ 
ard of the individual can best be glimpsed and carried forward. 

So that if, for example, Mary hands in a piece of work that 
is better done than Jane’s but Jane has put more effort and 
sincerity into hers, it is conceivable that Jane’s deserved an 
honor bead and Mary’s did not. 

Improving Our Handcraft 

All of this applies to our standards in handcraft. Many of our 
results in handcraft are mediocre or worse, but actually creat- 


Standards 


167 


ing something with the hands is, we believe, a valuable form 
of expression and worth fostering. Handcraft material sent in 
for national honors or for exhibit purposes must meet, of course, 
a more exacting outward standard. Form, line, and color count 
because the outsider will judge the result on what he can see, 
not on the age, effort, and sincerity of the girl who has done 
the work. 

The people at Headquarters have sometimes great difficulty 
in maintaining a high standard for you especially in the way of 
National Honors. You submit things of an inferior grade for 
National Honors and with them you send a letter, telling a 
story of how hard the girl has worked, how her home life is 
not ideal, how she wants a National Honor more than for any¬ 
thing else. The National Honor Committee has not hearts of 
stone. What shall they do? Make a girl happy and lower our 
standards or keep the standards high and ask the girl to try 
again ? 

Steadily better results in handcraft mean constant study and 
work on the part of the Guardian or else enlisting the interest 
and help of a person who is gifted or trained along some lines 
of handcraft. But is anything more worth while than to build 
up taste and discrimination about things that can be made with 
the hands? It means more attractive clothes, for handcraft has 
to do with fabric and color, design, and line. It means more 
attractive houses, for handcraft has to do with many phases of 
interior decoration and the planning and making of accessories 
for the house. 

We Are Judged By Our Singing 

Qur standards in music are important because music is com¬ 
ing more and more to be a social and a community thing, and 
it is through music in Council Fires, at camp, and on other 
group occasions that we often become known to people for the 
first time and they get their first impressions of Camp Fire. Let 
us not be known for poor singing, cheap parodies, or raucous 
cheering. 

In the February, 1924 , issue of Everygirl’s Magazine, you 
will find a very able and detailed article by Henrietta Baker 


168 


Handbook for Guardians 


Low on “What Music Can Mean to Your Camp Fire.” In it 
she has set a standard for group music which represents our 
goal in Camp Fire. Learn the beautiful songs of our own, 
written by W. H. Neidlinger, a musician who is well-known 
and greatly admired. 

Learn the fine old songs that communicate tradition as well 
as beauty. Don’t be satisfied with current songs or even with 
new words to popular tunes. Remember that verse and song 
parodies are an imitation at best and that Camp Fire stands for 
originality, as well as artistic expression. 

Standards in behavior are difficult to pronounce upon but 
there are general questions that confront everybody, some gen¬ 
eral ideas for which have been agreed upon. Everywhere that 
Camp Fire Girls go they spread the idea of Camp Fire. This 
is especially true of groups hiking, camping, or doing anything 
else together out of doors or in public places. 

Good Manners Are Merely Consideration 

Voices, manners, and habits all count tremendously on such 
occasions. Gum chewing in public is to be discouraged. It is 
well to explain to girls that this is so because it is an unlovely 
and undignified habit just as any eating in public is. Where 
it is done, it certainly gives individuals and groups a reputation 
for at least mediocrity. 

We are trying to help girls in their standards of behavior 
and manners through articles which appear in Everygirl’s 
Magazine from time to time. We encourage Guardians to use 
these by talking them over with their girls. 

On the other hand Guardians need to remember that girls 
are not adults and that they should not be asked to act like 
adults when in public. This only makes them ridiculous instead 
of natural and simple as they have a right to be. The underly¬ 
ing principle in all matters of behavior is, after all, nothing 
more or less than consideration for the needs or point of view 
of another person or other people. 

And each question in behavior that comes up can not be 
answered by rule of thumb for each question is in a sense a 
new one, surrounded by its special set of conditions. All the 


Standards 


169 


Guardian can do is to try to understand it herself, talk it over 
with the girls and get their idea on it and then arrive at 
what seems the best decision on it. This will gradually put 
the girls on their own in the matter of behavior. 

Our Standards In Dress 

Because there are 160,000 Camp Fire Girls, people look to us 
for some form or standard in appearance. The ceremonial 
gown is, of course, the most distinctive thing that we have, but 
it should be reserved for strictly Camp Fire occasions. Encour¬ 
age the improving of the gown. It should not fit too tightly. 
Its decorations should be carefully considered, sparingly used 
and artistically executed. The length of the gown is important, 
and moccasins or dark shoes should be worn with it. 

The oftener worn and better known costume consists of a 
white middy, blue pleated skirt, red or black tie, blue tarn, 
camping or sport shoes, and dark stockings. Checked or plaid 
skirts ought not to be considered a part of a Camp Fire Girl’s 
outfit. It is important that Camp Fire Girls wear such clothes 
for group occasions in public and that they build up a reputa¬ 
tion for spotlessly clean middies, and general neatness in the 
rest of the costume. There is also an attractive arm band 
which goes with the tarn or cap. It can be purchased with tarn 
from the Camp Fire Outfitting Co., 197 Greene Street, New 
York City. 

Standards in appearance count very much when groups of 
Camp Fire Girls are photographed for publicity. If one girl 
has on a dark middy and one a white, and there are all varie¬ 
ties of high and low heeled pumps, you can readily see what a 
garbled impression a stranger is going to get of Camp Fire. 


Sympathy Versus Judgment 

A Torch Bearer once went to the Camp Fire Executive of her 
city and said she wanted to give back her Torch Bearer’s pin 
that she might begin to work for her Torch Bearer’s rank all 
over again, saying that she really had not won it before. The 
executive allowed the girl to do so, for, said she, “You have 
fulfilled one of the hardest requirements for the rank. It will 


170 


Handbook for Guardians 


not take you long really to win the rank now since you have 
this spirit to begin with.” 

What Guardian, we wonder, would have the courage to 
accept the returned pin of one of her girls in such a case. How 
often do we all let our sympathies or our feelings enter into 
our judgment and lower our standards. In the case mentioned, 
the Guardian had no doubt awarded the rank before the girl 
was ready for it. Too often we have not the heart to disap¬ 
point a girl when we know that she wants to receive a rank at 
a certain Council Fire. 

Camp Fire is so big and there is so much unconscious stan¬ 
dardization in it that it is necessary to go further and set a 
high one that will mean .building the best for Camp Fire. 

To this end the Committee on Awards at the Kansas City 
Convention, March, 1924 , adopted the following resolutions: 

“This Committee recommends that where one or more active 
Camp Fire Groups are in existence in a community, that a Com¬ 
mittee of Awards be appointed, to standardize the awarding of 
all ranks to all Camp Fire Girls in that community. 

“This Committee further recommends that the Committee be 
composed of people who will maintain a high standard in the 
work required for Camp Fire ranks. 

“And that the Committee be appointed by the local council 
and Guardians’ Association through the local executive in com¬ 
munities where there is an executive; by the-Guardians’ Asso¬ 
ciation where there is no executive and by the Guardian where 
there is neither an executive or Guardian’s Association. 

“It is recommended that the meetings be held at regular inter¬ 
vals, preferably once a month.” 

We recommend that Guardians make every effort to estab¬ 
lish such a Committee of Awards of interested persons in their 
community. This will be a step forward in raising your 
standards. 


CHAPTER X 


MAKING THE MISFITS FIT 

For the time, trouble, patience, and thought that you put into 
making your Camp Fire a success you ask no reward except 
that success for which you have striven. But is there any re¬ 
ward unasked for and unexpected which thrills you with more 
happiness than the knowledge that some one girl in your group 
has found herself through Camp Fire? Perhaps she comes to 
you and tells you in stumbling phrases, which your sympathetic 
understanding must fill out and interpret, what Camp Fire has 
done for her. Perhaps some of the other girls confide in you 
how much they like and respect a certain girl whom they had 
thought at first would never make a companionable member of 
your Camp Fire. Perhaps no one says anything to you but you 
cannot help feeling and knowing that the misfit about whom you 
had serious and secret misgivings is a misfit no longer but has 
found her way into the hearts and affections of the rest of your 
girls. 

Face the Problem 

Tact is most important in dealing with the girl who for some 
reason does not seem to fit into your group tact, and sympathy, 
and understanding, with common sense and the courage to act 
decisively if need be. Never, if you can help it, let the matter 
drift to the point where the girl has achieved a recognized 
unpopularity, for then it is most difficult to wipe out the un¬ 
pleasant impression she has made on the other girls, and harder 
still to restpre the girl’s own self-confidence. 

1 7i 







172 Handbook for Guardians 

Each individual case must be dealt with in its own way and 
there lies a heavy responsibility for Guardians to shoulder. 
Psychologists have been working for some time on the personal¬ 
ity difficulties of the problem child. It is too bad that so much 
of their work has been with the abnormal and delinquent chil¬ 
dren, probably because their needs are the most pressing and 
because they offer the most material for study. What we need 
for our guidance is the study of the somewhat unusual girl 
whose difficulties makes her a problem although she is by no 
means abnormal or what we think of as a delinquent. How¬ 
ever, there are certain basic things to consider if we would 
help a girl who for some reason is “different” to find her place 
in a Camp Fire Group. 

Appeal to the Girl’s Interest 

There is one prescription that will apply to all cases, and that 
is to include the girl without comment in all the activities of 
the group. Take it for granted that she will^work into her own 
appointed place, and undoubtedly she will. 

Camp Fire activities are so inclusive that any girl is bound 
to find something in it of interest to her. She may need a little 
careful guidance on the part of the Guardian. A girl may feel 
as you would if you were in a huge department store for the 
first time with ever so many attractive things displayed on all 
sides and no one to help you find what you wanted. Display 
your wares without confusion and if the girl must be helped in 
her choice, make your guidance as inconspicuous as possible. 

Study the girl understandingly and find out her special in¬ 
terests. Then let her part in the group activities be along these 
lines. Let her develop her special hobby or talent for the 
benefit of the group as a whole and she may unconsciously cease 
to be a problem and become an asset. 

To help a girl make a wise choice of activities, you must 
know her interests and you must understand her. It is not too 
much to say that a guardian should know her girls personally, 
should be familiar with their home environment and their 
school problems. 


Misfits 173 

Consider Her Physical Condition 

Take into consideration too, the girl’s physical condition. 
Many a time nervousness or apathy is due to poor nutrition or 
some to organic disorder, a condition which you may be able 
to have remedied. 

It may be that you feel a physical examination is necessary. 
We take physical examinations so much for granted these days, 
especially as they are accepted as part of the school routine in 
many places, that it sometimes surprises us when we find a girl 
who has not had a physical examination. If you feel strongly 
that there is something which should be corrected, tactfully ar¬ 
range that the girl be examined. It may be, in a nervous case 
that the very activities your group is most interested in are 
harmful to the girl. 

Another point which you should take into consideration is the 
physical age of your girls. Where all the girls of your group 
except one have matured or vice versa, this may account for 
the difference in that girl’s reactions. Consult a physician about 
this matter. He will be able to tell you what to expect and how 
to handle such a situation. Deal intelligently with your girls, 
not emotionally nor blindly. 

Look for Causes 

In an article on the “Problem Child,” by Phillis Blanchard 
and Richard H. Payne of the Child Guidance Clinic, they say 
of a child that “there are definite causes that produce his diffi¬ 
culties, that these causes are to be found in his physical, mental, 
or social life, and that, having been found, they can in many 
instance be removed or ameliorated.” They also say “Our con¬ 
ception of personality is not that it is a static, unchanging condi¬ 
tion. We realize that physical ills, environmental influences 
and many other interlocking factors underlie the outward 
manifestations of personality. Therefore by medical and social 
treatment, and by enlisting the child’s own cooperation in the 
correction of her difficulties, we may hope to produce marked 
changes in personality and bring it back to a normal state.” It 
is, therefore, the duty of the Guardian to inform herself about 
her girls especially the one or two who do not seem to be in 


174 


Handbook for Guardians 


accord with the rest of her group, in order that she may be able 
to help them make the necessary readjustment. 

Win Her Confidence 

If you are going to help the girl in your group who most 
needs your help, you cannot know too much about her. Nothing 
at all may be accomplished with a girl unless you win her confi¬ 
dence. This will come about in the most natural (and only) 
way if she respects you and feels your sympathy and under¬ 
standing. 

At our Council Fires when the girls in their ceremonial 
gowns are gathered about the flames of Work, Health, and Love, 
they feel free to talk about the things which lie nearest their 
hearts and which are usually shut away from the everyday 
world. At this time, the emotions of even a very shy girl may 
be so stirred that she will speak without embarrassment of her 
ideals, her day dreams, and her fantasies. A Guardian never 
abuses such confidence but many find through it a key to an 
otherwise unexplainable situation and be able to help the girl 
achieve her ideals. 

What Can You Say? 

It is seldom a wise thing to talk to the girl directly; it will 
tend to make her even more self conscious and perhaps so re¬ 
sentful as to undo any intended good. It is also a rather dan¬ 
gerous thing to talk the matter over specifically with the other 
girls, though this is sometimes necessary and the only solution 
to the problem. If you find that most of your girls are pointedly 
ignoring this one girl, or making fun of her, or antagonizing 
her, put a stop to it at once by a tactful talk with one or two of 
the leading spirits or with all of the girls. The way you do 
this will mean its success or failure. It is far better to present 
the matter to the girls as their duty to Camp Fire, rather than 
as a kindness to the individual girl. A Guardian might say to 
her girls, something like this: 

“Your are, perhaps, unconsciously, leaving Dorothy out of 
your games, your plans, and your conversation. She is natur¬ 
ally shy and reserved and the more you do this the more she 


Misfits 


175 


will crawl into her own shell. We want a Camp Fire that 
works together as a whole, so we want Dorothy to be one with 
us. Let’s try to make her realize she has her place. Don’t let 
her feel your effort, but include her in everything you do, and 
make a point of talking to her about the things that interest her 
most. Soon I am sure she will forget to be shy and our Camp 
Fire will be the unit we want it to be.” 

The Girl Who Was Fat 

A few cases which Guardians have handled with tact and 
intelligence will be of interest. 

One Guardian noticed that Marjorie, although she was very 
much interested in all that their Camp Fire group did, and 
helped to plan things with enthusiasm, seeming to be most co¬ 
operative, when it came to actual participation in any activity, 
particularly games or sports, she quietly remained aloof. There 
was nothing unpleasant in her way of doing this, but there was a 
finality about it which puzzled the Guardian and made her feel 
that there was some special reason for Marjorie’s attitude. 

She determined to see something of Marjorie outside of their 
Camp Fire meetings and if possible to win her confidence, so 
she asked Marjorie to help her to get a club exhibit ready. 
They worked together all afternoon at the Woman’s Club 
House and then the Guardian asked Marjorie to come home to 
dinner with her. That evening began a warm friendship 
between the Guardian and the girl, which, later brought the 
results the Guardian had hoped for. The girl told her what 
was bothering her. She was fat. When she was younger she 
had been laughed at on occasions when unselfconsciously she 
took part in games. She was sensitive, and so as she grew 
older withdrew more and more from situations in which she 
might appear ridiculous. Talking things over with her, the 
Guardian helped Marjorie in several ways. In the first place, 
it was a relief to have this outlet for her pent-up emotions. 
Just talking about it slew the dragons of fear and self-conscious¬ 
ness. They consulted a physician who prescribed a diet and 
special exercises. Marjorie keeps the Health Chart and gradu¬ 
ally is reducing her percentage of overweight. The Guardian 


176 Handbook for Guardians 

also, feeling sure that she could trust to the courtesy of the 
other members of the Camp Fire group, urged Marjorie to take 
part in their activities, which she is doing more and more as 
she finds that instead of being laughed at, she is treated as a 
perfectly normal member of the group. 

The Frivolous Girl 

There was another case of a girl who was tremendously fond 
of parties, went to a great many dances and kept such late 
hours that her father, himself a physician but unable to con¬ 
trol his own daughter, feared for her health. At first she was 
rather supercilious about Camp Fire and the Guardian realized 
that she had only joined for the sake of her chum, a girl some¬ 
what similar in type but more tractable. So she gave the two 
girls the responsibility of looking after a poor family in which 
the group was interested. Later they gave voluntary service 
at the baby clinic, and finally were put in charge of the “Give 
Service” Committee. In the meantime they had become inter¬ 
ested in keeping the Health Chart which was incompatible 
with late hours. The physician father was so impressed and 
delighted with the improvement in his daughter that he made 
a special point of congratulating the Guardian and of offering 
his services to help in the work of the group. 

The Girl Who Had to Talk 

There is also an interesting case of a rural school teacher 
who discovered the surprising reason for one of her pupils’ 
apparent rebellion against discipline. The girl was a constant 
nuisance because she kept whispering during study hours in 
spite of repeated reprimands. One day she surprised the 
teacher by exclaiming, “This is the only place where I can 
talk. When I leave here there isn’t a soul I can talk to.” It 
seems that the girl kept house for her three brothers, farmers, 
and rather taciturn men at best. When they came in from their 
day’s work in the fields they were too tired to do anything but 
eat, smoke their pipes, and go to bed. It was easy enough for 
this teacher to provide a little social life for this girl so that 


Misfits 177 


her natural social instincts had some other avenue of expression 
than whispering in school. 


A Few General Suggestions 


Do not try to force the shy girl. Let her take a small and in¬ 
conspicuous part in the group activities at first, but gradually 
arouse her interest and stimulate her confidence in herself so 
that through working with the group she comes in time to lose 
some of her shyness and is no longer afraid to venture by 
herself. 


Give the aggressive girl a job that will keep her busy, not 
necessarily one of leadership. If possible make her feel that 
she is working jfotf the good of the group and not for her own 
self exhaltation. Competitions and games between groups are 
an excellent means of teaching an egotistic girl her place as one 
small unit in a group activity. 

Do not over-stimulate the active girl. Help her to appreciate 
the excellence of achievement as opposed to the amount accom¬ 
plished. 

Through the winning of honors and through competition 
arouse the lethargic girl to participate in the group activities. 

Make a selfish girl responsible for the happiness of someone 
younger or weaker than herself. 

These are the merest generalizations. In the end you will 
have to work out your own problems in your own way, but do 
not be frightened or discouraged if fate brings to your group 
what seems to be a hopeless misfit. Very great will be your 
spiritual rewaTd if through your tact and understanding you 
bring out the latent beauty in her girl-nature and make her an 
asset to your Camp Fire. 

These books will be of help to you in dealing with questions 
which may arise in your group: 


Toward Racial Health 
By Norah H. March 
Men, Women and God 
By Herbert Gray 
Sex and Common Sense 
By E. Maud Roydon 
The Three Gifts of Life 
By Nellie M. Smith 


Herself: Confidences 
By Edith B. Lowry 
For Girls and the Mothers of 
Girls 

By Mary G. Hood 
The Way Life Begins 
By Cady 

The Song of Life 
By Morley 


CHAPTER XI 


CAMP FIRE FINANCES 

It would be invidious, and perhaps incorrect, to state that 
Camp Fire Girls is the only organization of its kind which 
aims at self-support. For years it has been the dream of 
“social workers” and others engaged in work with large 
national groups to be freed from the necessity of appealing to 
the public periodically for funds to meet the expenses of their 
organizations. In other words, they have all desired, and de¬ 
sired with reason, to have their particular program presented 
to the public through an organization which stood on its own 
feet financially. 

When this movement for girls was started, it was subsidized 
by a few people who earnestly desired that a program for girls 
based on sound pedagogical principles and tying the girl’s 
school and Church life to her life in the community should be 
given a chance to function. This money subsidy was continued 
for the first three years of the existence of the organization. 
Always the fact was kept in mind, however, that ultimately the 
dues of the girls should pay practically all of the expenses of 
operating the small organization necessary to present the pro¬ 
gram efficiently. 

Added to the desire on the part of the founders of the move¬ 
ment that they should be freed from going to the general public 
periodically asking for gifts and thereby creating the notion of 

178 















Finances 


179 


philanthropy and charity in the minds of all the members of 
the organization, there existed that basic idea that expresses 
itself perhaps best in the phrase “Pay as you go,” which might 
be said to have become the financial motto of this organization. 
There is something sturdy and making for spiritual as well as 
physical and mental development in the ability to understand 
why taxes should be paid. 

The girl, on joining the Camp Fire movement, becomes a 
citizen of that movement and pays her taxes that it be main¬ 
tained. When in March, 1915, the organization changed its 
basis of support from being a philanthropy to paying its own 
way, membership began to grow rapidly, although it had been 
predicted that such a change would end in disaster. More 
recently there has been an added proof that this method of 
support, as far as our organization is concerned, is a correct 
one. It became necessary to present to all of the officials and 
Guardians of the organization the necessity for increasing the 
dues if the organization were to continue to be self-supporting 
and to inaugurate a type of field work commensurate with the 
importance of the program. Replies immediately began to 
pour into National Headquarters, and to the surprise of the 
executive officers it was discovered that well over 90% of the 
Guardians, representing the Camp Fires, had voted in favor of 
doubling the amount which they and their girls must pay to¬ 
wards making this movement more effective. 

Why Pay Dues? 

The question from time to time has arisen, “Why pay dues?” 
A study of the annual financial report of the Camp Fire Girls 
is the full and complete answer to this question. There is only 
one other modern method of obtaining support for such move¬ 
ments as this, and that is through the medium of the “drive” 
which wore itself threadbare during the war. Added to this 
there is the universal practice in local organizations of meeting 
the necessary local expenses by dues paid from the membership. 

The reason that the members of such an organization pay 
dues is that they desire the organization to continue to function. 
They know very well that they are to derive from its existence 


180 


Handbook for Guardians 


some definite benefit. They know that the ones who derive 
such benefits should be the ones to meet the expenses, and they 
see the necessity of assuming the slight financial burden entailed 
by the payment of dues which, at the most, are nominal in order 
that benefit may accrue to the whole group. 

When we consider $1.00 a year per girl and the benefits that 
any girl receives from following the Camp Fire program, when 
we realize that by saving two cents per week any girl can more 
than cover her dues of $1.00 per year, and that if her group 
adopts the general practice of each girl saving five cents per 
week, segregating two cents for National Headquarters and 
three cents for her own local organization, the whole problem 
is immediately solved. These two methods of meeting the ex¬ 
penses of Camp Fire work are presented to all groups: first, 
earning money through group effort; second, the method by 
which each girl earns five cents per week, investing two cents 
per week in the dues to her National organization and three 
cents per week in dues to her local group. 

SUPPORT OF LOCAL ORGANIZATION 

In many of the communities, the community chest is being 
considered and there is no reason why some of the money col¬ 
lected by the citizens in your town or city should not be used 
for girls’ work. It is up to you Guardians, therefore, to put 
before the Community Chest Committee the value of Camp Fire 
and the importance of being included in their budget. 

Community Chest Committees or Councils are practically ad¬ 
ministrators of public funds, and you cannot expect them to be 
convinced of the importance of Camp Fire to the girls of the 
community simply by inviting them to a Council Fire or by 
calling upon them and telling them of the services your girls 
have done. You must be business-like in your dealings with 
them, and you must give them facts to work on. When you 
have given them the facts, you must impress your needs upon 
them. In either case, you must prepare a carefully planned 
budget so that the committee will know exactly for what ex¬ 
penses you are asking money. We are printing a sample 


Finances 181 

budget which is typical of many of the cities which have Camp 
Fire included in their community chests. 

Let us suppose first that you have in your city only a Guar¬ 
dians’ Association which has taken charge of the Camp Fire 
work. If this is the case you have of course often thought of 
the advantage to the girls of your city if you could have a paid 
executive who could direct the Camp Fire work and run head¬ 
quarters where you could meet and bring your business, and 
exchange ideas, and discuss your problems. You have thought 
also if you had such an executive, that regular training courses 
might be given in your city so that new leaders could be found 
and trained, so that more of the girls desiring to be Camp Fire 
Girls might have their dream realized. You have thought too 
of having a camp for your girls, a camp well equipped where 
for a minimum sum all the girls in your city could go camp¬ 
ing for one or two weeks every summer. And how many times 
you have wished that you might send someone of your com¬ 
munity to the National Conference each year so that you might 
have the benefit of the new ideas and the inspirations which are 
always the result of such a conference. 

We don’t mean to underestimate the value of a Guardians’ 
Association. I am sure that such associations are responsible 
for the vitality of Camp Fire in certain localities; but to keep 
Camp Fire progressive at all, we must have a person who can 
afford to give all her time and thought, a person who is trained 
to do such work, to the carrying out of such a program. So the 
first thing for you to do is to prepare the budget for your Com¬ 
mittee. Your budget will vary only perhaps in the matter of 
rents. Perhaps you will find that the School Board or some 
interested person would be willing to give you office space rent 
free, or some small building or store, which would cut down 
your budget for the first year. The next thing you must do is 
to begin to educate the committee, especially the influential 
people on the committee as to the importance of including Camp 
Fire in their chest. See that such persons are supplied with 
copies of the Annual Report as well as a copy of your tentative 
budget, make a compact survey of the community service your 
girls have given, and their health program with a copy of the 


182 Handbook for Guardians 

Health Chart attached, so that they may form an idea of what 
Camp Fire Girls are doing toward being healthy as well as 
helpful citizens. Show them the personal budgets that the girls 
are keeping, and a copy of the national Thrift Chart. 

In other words, sell the big idea of Camp Fire to people 
interested in the Community Budget. You must then explain 
the need for training courses in your community—that you must 
have trained and capable leaders to carry on the work. You 
must show them how greater community spirit can be developed 
by means of Camp Fire Girls. Prepare a list of community 
projects which Camp Fire Girls have carried out in other 
cities where they have competent organizations; such as com¬ 
munity fire places, city parks, and play grounds, day nurseries, 
camps, etc. Perhaps you will want to include a request for a 
camp as part of your budget. If such is the case, you must 
be convincing too as to the value of camping for girls, as well 
as for boys. There is probably no community chest council 
anywhere who is not convinced of the value of camping for 
boys. Try to influence somebody to lend you a camp site for the 
first year, so that in your initial budget you need put in a re¬ 
quest for equipment only. 

At the same time you and other Guardians are preparing 
this material to present to the local community chest committee, 
you should be writing to Mr. Lester F. Scott, National Execu¬ 
tive, telling him of all you are doing, and asking him to send 
you whatever material you will need. You should also ask his 
advice about forming a local council, because as soon as your 
budget is granted to you, you will want to begin your work, 
and the second step toward forming a local headquarters is to 
secure a council. A local Camp Fire Council is composed of 
influential citizens in the community, both men and women. 
You will find such a council very helpful in the planning and 
establishing of your local organization. 

For too many years Camp Fire has been hiding its light 
under a bushel. This has been true of everyone in Camp Fire, 
from girls to Guardians and staff. Too long we have been 
content in allowing our ideals and the following of these ideals 
to speak for themselves, and it is time for every one of us to 


Finances 


183 



shout a little, and we must remember that such shouting is not 
for glory to ourselves, but that this rare and beautiful thing 
which is Camp Fire may be brought to more girls. 

In localities where there is no community chest, there are 
several ways in which Camp Fire can establish itself on a 
sound economic plan. Remember that those which have been 
tried do not by any means exhaust those that you may be able 
to work out in your particular community because each place 
presents different assets as well as difficulties. It is your prob¬ 
lem to understand how to deal with your situation in such a 
way as to create a constructive foundation for Camp Fire. 

Sometimes an entire club such as Kiwanis, Rotary, or a Wo¬ 
men’s Club takes over the backing of Camp Fire in a com¬ 
munity. They may begin by being interested in the camp and 
equipping it the first year. Next, they may conduct a campaign 
for buying a camp site. Once a club of a definitely chosen 
group of representatives from many clubs becomes interested in 
the growth and development of Camp Fire work, there is no 
limit to the work possible in a community. As these people 
work and understand the needs of Camp Fire, they will become 
the logical candidates for the local council. See Chapter III, 
page 44. 


Camp Fire Girls not only give plays, but design and make 
their own settings and costumes. 






184 Handbook for Guardians 


Estimated Budget for Local Organization of Camp 
Fire Girls 


Salaries: • 

Salaries of Exeucutive . . 
Assistant (in large cities) 
Office Secretary. 


$1800-2500 

1200-1500 

900-1200 


3900-5200 


Overhead and Running Expenses: 

Rent (including light and heat) . 

Office Furniture . 

(After first year some item should be included for 

depreciation) 

Stationery, Printing . 

Postage . 

Telephone and Telegraph . 

Insurance . 

Local Travelling"* Expenses . 

National Conference Expense. 

(To cover expense of sending local Executive to 
National Conference) 

Revolving Fund for Supplies . 


600- 900 
300- 400 


50- 200 
100- 150 
50- 75 
30- 50 

60- 150 
150- 200 


100- 300 


1440-2425 

Total . 5340-7625 

Special camp budget will be sent from National Headquarters 
upon request as so many factors enter into each individual com¬ 
munity that satisfactory general statement cannot be drawn up. 


Business Standards 

The business experience which Camp Fire Girls gain in 
earning money for their activities is of more benefit to them 
than the earning of the money alone. With very rare excep¬ 
tions, our girls become home-makers. They have their share 
(a large share in most cases) in supervising the expenditure 
of the family income. The happiness of that home will often 
depend on a wise financial plan. Besides being home-makers, 
girls of to-day are entering upon various vocations, in any 


















Finances 185 

one of which a grasp of financial principles would be a decided 
asset. 

What can Guardians do to give their girls experience in 
financial matters which will be fundamental and useful? 

High business standards count in every financial transaction 
of Camp Fire now, as well as when the girls grow older. 

Let us observe the following standards in all our Camp Fire 
money-making transactions. 

Make what we sell worth what we charge. Estimate cost of 
supplies when making candy or other articles. Consider what 
each girl’s work is worth. Consider average selling price of 
same article in community stores. Mark the selling price in 
consideration of these three things. 

Keep exact records of money received. Deposit it in the 
bank. Draw it out by check. Spend it according to a carefully 
thought-out budget. When we sell our services, as in serving at 
banquets, let us try for future orders by superior service, not 
merely because we are Camp Fire Girls. 

What fundamental principles are to be found in these sug¬ 
gestions? In the first: that we should always give, for money 
expended, honest and fair return. In the second: that in pricing 
an article, we should consider all the elements which have gone 
into producing that article: materials and labor. That the 
labor is worth money as well as the materials. That your 
group should receive a fair, but not exorbitant profit for their 
work. In the third: that system in handling money is the first 
essential. In the fourth: that any business endeavor should 
render service. That superior service to the community should 
be the test of your work. 

Buy a Chance 

It is because of the connection between group activity and 
individual standards that Camp Fire, nationally, is opposed to 
the holding of raffles and the selling of “chances.” We believe 
that one of life’s great principles is “Pay for what you get.” 
Pay for it in money. Pay for it in effort. The idea of “some¬ 
thing for nothing” has lured many to useless years. 

When a raffle is held, when “chances” are sold, the argument 


186 Handbook for Guardians 

for purchase is, in effect, “If you win, you will get something 
worth much more than you are paying.” But those who do not 
win receive nothing. A raffle is not a business venture in which 
money expended is returned in equal value. And we wish, as 
a National Organization, to support tfie standard of value given 
for price asked. 

WAYS IN WHICH CAMP FIRE GIRLS EARN 

MONEY 

To turn to practical ways and means, why is it that the same 
plan for raising money is successful with one group and not 
with another? There may be several reasons, but one is this: 
It is all in the way you do it. One group may take a plan that 
is not new, but by original embellishments make it of fresh 
appeal. 

Always remember that young shoulders should not bear too 
heavy financial burdens. For, while Camp Fire means respon¬ 
sibility, it means joy and fun, too. 

Watch Everygirl’s and The Guardian for details of money¬ 
making enterprises which Camp Fire Groups have launched 
successfully. Often, too, our advertisers make remunerative of¬ 
fers of which you need not hesitate to take advantage, because 
each offer is investigated before the advertising is accepted. 

A resume of the many projects which Camp Fire Girls have 
found successful in making money is obtainable from National 
Headquarters. 

A booklet on how Camp Fire Girls earn money is in prepa¬ 
ration. 

The Magazine Bureau 

One of the simplest, most business-like, and satisfactory ways 
for Camp Fire Girls to earn money is through the services of 
the Magazine Bureau. 

The Magazine Bureau was planned and organized to be of 
service to the Camp Fire Girls. It is under the supervision of 
Charles S. Rockhill, whose reputation for business integrity and 
honor is of the best in the magazine offices throughout the 


Finances 


187 


country. He has been connected with the circulation depart¬ 
ments of various publishing houses for many years. The Camp 
Fire Girls organization is fortunate to be able to draw on his 
particular kind of business experience. 

The idea back of the whole Magazine Bureau plan is this. 
It is easier for the girls to get new subscriptions or renewals 
to the magazines people already are interested in, or take, than 
to one particular magizine; therefore Mr. Rockhill has a long 
list of magazines which Camp Fire Girls can offer to prospec¬ 
tive subscribers. Among these of course is EverygirVs Maga¬ 
zine. This gives the girls an opportunity to turn in their own 
subscriptions for the Camp Fire magazine and to get new 
subscribers for it. 

On all of these magazines he returns the regular canvasser’s 
commission which averages about 30% per subscription. For 
example, if a girl gets five subscriptions to a magazine whose 
subscription price is $1.50 a year, she earns a commission of 
approximately 45 cents on each of these subscriptions. This 
means that she has earned $2.25 for the Camp Fire treasury. 
If each Camp Fire Girl would become the magazine solocitor 
for just her own family, the results in a group would soon 
amount to a real sum of money—one great enough to make 
possible a week or more in camp. 

In addition to the Camp Fire Girl, who gets an average of 
30% on each subscription, National Headquarters gets 2% of 
the entire amount and Mr. Rockhill gets a small bonus on the 
entire amount of subscriptions he submits through Camp Fire 
Girls. You see it is a business plan and the girls benefit the 
most from it. 

Just a word about the magazines that are not on Mr. Rock- 
hill’s list. Only those magazines that pay no canvasser’s com¬ 
mission are excluded. These magazines are very few. Camp 
Fire Girls may accept subscriptions to such magazines and for¬ 
ward them to the magazine bureau but they will, of course, 
receive no returns for doing so. It is, however, a good plan 
for the girls to forward any subscription to Mr. Rockhill which 
a person wishes to give. It will build up a feeling of good¬ 
will which will help them to get other subscriptions which will 
bring them a commission. 



188 Handbook for Guardians 

There is every reason why the Camp Fire Girls should 
gradually become responsible for the magazine subscriptions of 
their community, providing they adhere to certain business 
principles. Accurate records should be kept. Simple blanks 
are provided free for this purpose. Guardians must be prompt 
and particular in carrying out their part of the business. If 
a Guardian should resign or her assistant take charge, the 
name of the person in whose name the original negotiations 
with the Magazine Bureau were made, must be stated so that 
the records can be carried over. 

Unsatisfactory returns from the Magazine Bureau have in¬ 
variably been traced to delay or inaccuracy on the part of the 
Guardian in charge of the subscriptions turned in by her group. 
Remember that the entire record of the work of a group for the 
Magazine Bureau is filed in Mr. Rockhill’s office under the 
name of the Guardian of that group. 

All directions, subscription books, and other material for 
earning money through the Magazine Bureau can be obtained 
from Charles S. Rockhill, 324 Perry Building, Philadelphia. 


Baby Craft honors are popular among the Camp Fire Girls. 







CHAPTER XII 


CAMP FIRE PUBLICATIONS 

Everygirl’s Magazine and The Guardian are published 
monthly by the Camp Fire Girls organization. A need was felt 
soon after the founding of Camp Fire for some means of reach¬ 
ing our ever increasing membership with news of Camp Fire 
activities. Everygirl’s Magazine was published in response to 
this need, first under the name “Wohelo.” 

It is designed primarily to interest the girls. For this rea¬ 
son it contains both continued and short stories, verse, photo¬ 
graphs, and drawings, news of Camp Fire groups, and Camp 
Fire activities, special articles on crafts, health, clothes, and 
entertainments. In fact every phase of a girl’s interest is 
covered. 

For some time material of particular interest to the Guardians 
was also included, such as program plans and suggestions for 
handling problems which arise in the groups. Since these things 
did not concern the girls, it was decided to publish a monthly 
bulletin of information which should be sent without charge to 
each Guardian and thus make more space available for ma¬ 
terial of interest to the girls. 

Everygirl’s is published monthly except during July and Au¬ 
gust. The subscription price is $1.00 a year or io cents a copy. 
Upon payment of her dues each Guardian is sent Everygirl’s 
for the current year. 

National Headquarters feels that every Camp Fire Girl should 
be a subscriber. In fact many groups and some towns have 

189 













190 


Handbook for Guardians 


achieved one hundred per cent subscription from Camp Fire 
members. Only in this way can individual members keep step 
with the thought and development of the movement as a whole, 
and be in touch with all the other members. 

The magazine holds a high rank among periodicals of its 
type, is getting better all the time, and reserves recognition and 
support for its own merit as well as for its usefulness as a 
Camp Fire publication. For a magazine of its size and circu¬ 
lation, it has a surprisingly fine grade of advertisers, staunch 
old friends and new ones who can only give us their continued 
support if our girls support them by patronizing the goods they 
advertise. 

A Guardian should not feel that EverygirVs is merely for the 
girls themselves and that her duty is ended when she turns her 
copy over to them. Her copy is for her use also. Just reading 
it will throw her into the mood of girlhood. 

She should regard it as laboratory material, making use of the 
various suggestions herself as well as seeing that the attention 
of her girls is called to the articles she believes will be of 
special interest to them individually. Reading and using it 
should be included in her program for Camp Fire meetings. 

The Guardian is published solely for the purpose of helping 
Guardians over the difficult spots of their leadership. It is a 
means of sharing with all Guardians the plans and projects 
which certain of them have found successful. 

Material in The Guardian is published in answer to requests 
for help that come by mail and through personal contact, and 
to questions that arise at the National Convention. National 
Headquarters uses it as a medium of communication with the 
Guardians, bringing to their attention whatever would seem to 
be of help and interest to them in their work. 

Since the publication exists for the Guardians, they are urged 
to let National Headquarters know how best it can serve them 
and what particular type of material will be of most help to 
them. 


INDEX 


Absent Members, 32 
Adjusting Program to Older Girls, 
72-78 

Aesthetic Dancing, 75 
Assistant Guardian, 30 
Athletics in Camp, 124 
Awarding of Honors 
Ceremonies for, 88-89 
Standards for, 166 
Awards (in camp), 146 

Bibliography on Camping, 157-159 
Budget for Local Organization, 184 
Business and Records of Camp, 117 
Business Standards, 184 
Buy a Chance, 185 

Camp Fire Group, Organization of, 29 
Camp Fire Outfitting Company, 26 
Camp Fire Publications, 189-190 
Camping (Chapter VII), 103-159 
Activities, 119 
Athletics, 124 
Awards, 146 
Balanced Menus, 111 
Bibliography on, 157-159 
Business and Records, 117 
Camper’s Song, 157 
Camp Fire Program, 155 
Camp Questionnaire, 157 
Camping for Single Groups, 156 
Committee, 105 
Day’s Program, 121 
Dramatics, 143 
Equipment, 109 
Equipment, Personal, 154 
Fagot Finder, 147 
Fish Test, 132 
Frog Test, 131 
Flying Fish Test, 132 
Food and Commissary, 110 
Government and Leadership, 118 
Gypsy Honor, 149 
Gypsy Trips, 144 
Handcraft, 122 
Handcraft Honor, 150 
Health Standards, 113 
Leadership and Government, 118 
Medical Certificate, 116 
Nature Games, 141 
Nature Lore, 136 
Nature Lore Honor, 149 
Nature Lore Honors, 140 
Nature Lore Program, 138 
Pageantry, 143 
Personal Standards, 153 
Pollywog Test, 131 
Program for Day, 121 

191 


Camping (cont’d) 

Questionnaire, Camp, 157 
Sanitation, 108 
Singing,^ 143 

Single Group Camps, 156 
Site, 105 

Song for Campers, 157 
Standards for Camp, 147-153 
Stunts, 143 
Swimming, 128-136 
Tests, 131-132 
Meet, 133-136 
Track Events, 126-127 
Trail Maker, 148 
Ceremonies 

Awarding of Honors, 88-89 
Conferring of Ranks, 91 
Fire Extinguishing, 91 
Fire or Candle Lighting Ceremo¬ 
nies, 86-87 
Gown Ceremony, 93 
Patriotic Holidays, 93 
Receiving New Members, 89-90 
Ring Ceremony, 91 
Chart, Organization of Camp Fire 
Girls, 27 

Constitution, for Guardians’ Associa¬ 
tion, 43-44 

Council Fire (Chapter V), 80-97 
Ceremonies and Ritual for, 86-95 
Grand Council Fire, 95 
Program for, 83 
Sunday Ceremonial, 84 
Count Books, 100 

Dancing, Aesthetic, 75 
Dawn of Idea of Camp Fire, 6 
Departments, National, 26 
Dramatics, 75, 143 
Dress, 169 
Dues, Yearly, 31 

Executive, National, 25 
Executives, Local, Duties of, 46 
Executives, Local, Requirements for, 
46 

t Fagot Finder, 147 
Fees, 33 

Fire or Candle Lighting Ceremonies, 
86-87 

Fire Extinguishing Ceremony, 91 
Fish Test, 132 
Flying Fish Test, 132 
Frog Test, 131 

Games 

Group, 126 
Nature, 141-142 


192 


Index 


Gown Ceremony, 93 
Grand Council Fire, 95 
Group Organization, 28-29 
Guardian, on Being a, 16-23 
Assistant, 30 

Communications from, 35 
One Taking Two Groups, 34 
Real Diary of, 20-23 
Reinstatement of, 38 
Reports of, 36 
Resignation of, 38 
Temporary, 30 
Guardians’ Associations, 40 
Organization of, 41 
Proposed Constitution of, 43-44 
Publicity by, 42 
Purpose of, 40 
Gypsy Honor, 149 
Gypsy Trips, 144 

Handcraft, 122 

Improving Standards of, 166 
Health Habits, Forming of, 160 
Health Standards, 113 
Health, Weekly Program, 161 
Hold on to Health, 160-164 
Honors, Educational Policy, 12 
Ceremony of Awarding, 88-89 
Nature Lore in Camp, 140 

Leaders. Requirements for, 29 
Leadership and Government of Camp, 
118 

Local Councils, 44 
Local Executives, 46 
Local Organization, 40-47 

Magazine Bureau, 186 

Medical Certificate for Camp, 116 

Meetings, 39 

Misfits, Making Them Fit, 171-177 

National Executive, 25 
National Headquarters, 24-25 
Nature Games, 141 
Nature Lore Honors, 140 
Nature Lore Honor in Camp, 149 
Nature Lore, in Camp, 136 
Nature Lore Program, 138 
New Guardian, Diary of, 20-23 
New Members, 32 

Older Girls, Adjusting Program to, 
72-78 

On Being a Guardian, 16-23 
Orders for Suoolies, 38-39 
Organization (Chapter III), 24-47 
Organization Chart, 27 
Organization, Group, 28 
Organization, Local, 40-47 
Outfitting Company, Camp Fire, 26 

Pageantry in Camp, 143 
Personal Standards, 153 
Problem of Girl Who Does Not Fit 
in (Chapter X), 171-177 


Program 

Adjusting to Older Girl, 72-78 
Camp Fire in Camp, 155 
Choosing Best for Group, 50 
Council Fire, 83 
Christmas-Activities, 64-72 
Day in Camp, 121 
Differs From Other Programs, 14 
First Eight Meetings, 54-64 
Framework of, 10 
How to Carry Out, 48-79 
Making Out Calendar, 51 
Nature Lore in Camp, 138 
Theory of, 8-10 
Weekly Health, 161 
Program Making, 48-79 
Publications, Camp Fire, 189-190 
Publicity, 42 

(Questionnaire, Camp, 157 

Receiving New Members, Ceremo¬ 
nies for, 89-90 
Recipe for Success, 18 
Records and Business of Camp, 117 
Records, Guardians’, 98 
Records, Group, 98-102 
Reinstatement of Guardians, 38 
Requirements, Executives. 46 
Resignation of Guardians, 38 
Ring Ceremony, 91 
Rings, 38 

Exchange of, 39 
Lost, 39 

Self-Support, 178 
Service Projects, 76 
Singing, 74, 143 

Single Group Camping Trips, 156 
Sponsors, 31 
Sports, 161 

Standards (Chapter IX), 165-170 
For Awarding Honors, 166 
For Improving Handcraft, 166 
For Singing, 167 
For Good Manners, 168 
For Dress, 169 
In Awarding Ranks, 170 
Success, Recipe for, 18 
Supplies, 38 

Support of Local Organization, 1 
Swimming, 128 
Swimming Meet, 133 
Swimming Tests, 131-132 
Symbolism, Value of, 13 

Taking Two Groups, 34 
Temporary Guardians, 30 
Theory of Camp Fire, 5-15 
Track Events, 126 
Trail Maker, 148 
Transferred Members, 32 
Treasurer’s Accounts, 100 

Why Pay Dues, 179 


















4 








